A PAIR OF MINTONS PATE-SUR-PATE PEACOCK BLUE VASES AND COVERS

DATE CYPER FOR 1896, IMPRESSED UPPERCASE AND GILT-CROWN GLOBE MARKS, VARIOUS IMPRESSED CYPHERS, INCISED SHAPE NO. 1013, GILT 16.12.97 X, SIGNED L. SOLON

Details

Finely painted and hand-tooled in white slip, the first with a maiden holding an upright bar between pillars of Love, the reverse with a Cupid entering a door, both connected by fences with foliage behind, the second with a maiden inserting a bar to keep Love out flanked by pillars of wisdom, the reverse with a Cupid knocking on a door, the two similarly connected by fences and foliage, with upright wreath handles flanked by undulating ribbons, on circular bases decorated with gilt scrolls and conforming domed covers with bud finials
15 1/4 in. (38.7 cm.) high


Lot Essay

The celebrated ceramic artist Marc Louis Solon came to England in late 1870 following the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. The Minton factory had, under the directorship of Léon Arnoux, acquired a reputation for attracting the most skilled craftsmen from leading porcelain factories on the Continent. Solon enjoyed a long and successful association with the Minton factory producing some of the manufactory's most memorable pieces, including numerous works displayed at the great expositions of the late 19th century. As U.S. Commissioner Blake observed in his Reports of the United States Commissioners to the House of Representatives following the 1878 Paris Exposition Universelle, three years prior to the present vases' completion, Solon's "work is incomparably superior to that of any of his imitators, far surpassing in art value the best examples of figure subjects from the kilns of Sèvres. He alone fully and satisfactorily unites skill in the technique of paste and glaze and the genius of sculptor and designer. His favourite subjects, as is well known, are the female form, Cupids and cherubs. He delights in illustrating the pranks Cupid plays with the hearts of maidens." For an exhaustive discussion of Solon's work at Minton, see B. Bumpus, Pâte-sur-Pâte, London, 1992, pp. 100-151.