David Battie
FRSA
The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...
(born 22 October 1942) is a British retired expert on
ceramics
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
, with a particular specialism in
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
and
Chinese artefacts.
Career
After attending art school, where he studied graphic design, Battie worked for ''
Reader's Digest
''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...
'' magazine for three years. In 1965 he joined the auction house
Sotheby's
Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...
. There he worked in the Departments of Ceramics and Oriental Works of Art and was appointed a Director in 1976. He retired from Sotheby's in 1999.
After leaving Sotheby's he became editor of ''Masterpiece'' magazine and has written many books on pottery and porcelain. He also undertakes
public speaking
Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech deliver ...
.
He is probably best known for his many appearances on the long-running
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'', in which he appeared for 43 years, from the first series in 1977 until his retirement in 2020.
to give a talk. He was in hospital for six months in
and subsequently suffered an infection which was resistant to treatment by all antibiotics. He underwent upwards of eight operations. including four skin grafts, of which three failed. He has estimated that, since the accident, he has taken 1,300,000 mg of the pain-killer
.