The Appraisers Association of America is holding a lecture on April 7, “Appraising Ceramics, Connoisseurship – in the Eye of the Beholder" by Letitia Roberts.
Ms. Roberts describes her slide lecture as follows, “With the progression of collecting from a genteel pastime to a serious investment, the collector, curator, cataloguer, appraiser and dealer of ceramics no longer can afford the luxury of merely good taste.” This talk will illustrate the multiplicity of problems in ceramics connoisseurship while offering advice and encouragement. The approach will be recognizing the three crucial elements of rarity, quality and condition, which ultimately determine value.
Ms. Roberts joined Sotheby’s in 1968 initially to help create their new PB-84 division. She then moved to the Old Master Paintings, Appraisals and American Furniture and Decorative Arts Departments. In 1973 she became a member of the European Ceramics and Chinese Export Porcelain Department and in 1978 was appointed its Director, a position she held until 1998 when as Senior Vice President of Sotheby’s, she was also named Senior International Specialist. Since 2002 Ms. Roberts has been working as an independent scholar, author, lecturer, adjunct professor and collection advisor; among other projects she is currently collaborating on the catalogue of the Stout Collection of Continental Ceramics at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, Tennessee.
For over a quarter of a century in Sotheby’s Ceramics Department, Ms. Roberts was closely involved with almost every major pottery or porcelain collection sold in America including those of Henry Ford II, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Colonel Edgar W. and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Mr. and Mrs. Rafi Y. Mottahedeh, Dr. and Mrs. Warren Baker and Frederick J. and Antoinette Van Slyke. Well-known for her expertise, Ms. Roberts brings an uncompromising approach to maintaining scholarly standards in cataloguing for a highly specialized market; she has been called in the international press, “the best cataloguer in the business.”
Ms. Roberts is a frequent lecturer internationally on numerous ceramics-related subjects, and has taught at NYU, Parsons School of Design, Sotheby’s Institute and Rosemont College. She has written numerous articles for various publications among them Worchester Porcelain, The Zorenensky Collection, The Passion for Pottery, and the Henry H. Weldon Collection. She was one of six Sotheby specialists chosen to participate in a P.B.S. film “Caring for Antiques” now available on video. She is also participates in the “Antiques Roadshow.”
Ms. Roberts is a member of numerous international ceramics societies including the Societe des Amis du Musee National de Ceramique (Paris), in England the English Ceramic Circle, English Ceramics Study Group in Philadelphia and the London-based French Porcelain Society, for which she is the Secretary-Treasurer in North America.
A graduate of Miss Porter’s School and Smith College with a degree in Art History, Ms. Roberts furthered her studies at Harvard University and New York University. A native of Philadelphia, she now resides in New York City and whenever possible in Northeast Harbor, Maine.
The monthly meetings of the Appraisers Association of America are free of charge to members and $15 to non-members. Each lecture is followed by a reception and refreshments. Since space for this lecture is extremely limited, all those interested are urged to make reservations by phoning the Association at (212) 889-5404.
For reservations, call (212) 889-5404 or e-mail: aaa1@rcn.com.
