The Collector
In 1877 Raymond Francis Alfred Riesco was born in Croydon. He was christened Ramon Francesco Alfredo Riesco, but later changed his name to Raymond Francis Alfred. Raymond’s father was from Chile and his mother from Scotland. Raymond married Ada Mary Hovenden on 14 July 1914 at St Peter’s Croydon. They had three children Jean, Michael and Sheila.
Raymond Riesco and his family moved to Heathfield House, Croydon, in 1925. The family lived at Heathfield until Raymond’s death on 9th March 1964. In the 40 years that Raymond owned the land, he changed it from a run down farm to model estate set around a mansion and beautiful ornamental gardens. Heathfield was once a simple sheep farm, known as Stones Farm, and was one of many tenanted farms belonging to the Manor of Addington. By 1837 the simple farm had been elevated into a Georgian estate in its own right and its name changed to Heathfield. In 1954, Raymond’s daughter, Jean Thorpe wrote a booklet called ‘Heathfield remembered’, 1954.
Raymond Riesco worked for a large insurance firm in the City of London, and had an interest in collecting. He was known for collecting stamps and was an acknowledged authority in philately. Additionally he collected watercolours and etchings.
In 1935 he decided to collect Chinese ceramics. He did not travel to China himself, but bought most of the ceramics through an art dealer and friend, Edgar Bluett.
“Sometimes Mr Riesco would creep into the house and put pieces of china into a case, then tell his wife they had been there for a long time”
During the war, Riesco wrapped many of the ceramics in newspaper and buried them in his garden to prevent them being damaged. One of the first items in the collection was a horse. When the horse arrived, Riesco’s children were disappointed that it did not have a tail, so he decided to cut some hair from his own horse, ‘Taffy’, to create one.
Heathfield House
Earthenware model horse with amber-glazed, made between 700 and 750 AD (during the Tang dynasty) in China, to be buried in a grave. (ref: M/1992/392)
At Heathfield, the collection was displayed all over the house - in the hall, dining room and two reception rooms.
“Interesting people used to come and see the collection.....Anyone who came to see it could handle it and pieces were often sent away for weeks or months at a time for people to look at.”
Raymond Riesco gifted this collection of Chinese ceramics to Croydon Council on his death in 1964. It was exhibited for a time at Fairfield Halls before being moved to the Riesco Gallery at Museum of Croydon in the Croydon Clocktower. Also in the Museum of Croydon’s collection are the original handwritten ledgers of objects and interviews of the family. Raymond also selected a few important pieces for the British Museum, which you can view here.
Want to know more?
Listen to ‘Tracing the Riesco Collection’ by Daisy Chan
Chinese porcelain and ceramics: vessels that represent movement, exchange and connection. The Museum of Croydon contains a collection of over 200 Chinese ceramics and porcelain, dating from as early as the Han dynasty, all way through to the Qing dynasty. The collection is named after a gentleman called Raymond Riesco. How did it find its way to Croydon?
Uploaded: 28th April 2020
Recording: June 2019