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Lot Essay
The present example was one of a pair of vases exhibited at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1878. On the strength of Thomas Goode's display, Minton was awarded the Grand Prize, winning great acclaim for the factory and for Solon as an individual artist.
U.S. Commissioner Blake, in his Reports of the United States Commissioners to the House of Representatives observes, "To Praise the work of Minton & Co. of Stoke-on-Trent would be to 'gild refined gold'. Their contributions to the Paris Exhibition of 1878 do not lessen their fame; it would be difficult to increase it. We give on this page six of their more prominent productions." [See the illustration at left]
George Augustus Sala in his discursive account Paris Herself Again, p. 199, was equally impressed and described a 'pair of vases of large dimension with cupids clustered round their stems and encircled above by a ring of cupidons in pâte-sur-pâte engaged in demolishing chains of iron and replacing them by chains of roses.' The Art Journal illustrated one of the pair along side his review.
Bernard Bumpus records in Pâte-sur-Pâte, the Art of Ceramic Relief Decoration, London, 1992, p. 117, that the pair was separated: the vase with roses (the present example) was sold to Tiffany in New York in 1878; the other remained with Thomas Goode until 1991.
Solon's notebook also documents this masterwork, recording that a high number of man hours was needed to complete the pair and required the assistance of both Mellor and Frederick Rhead.
The great facination with these vases continues to the present day. Indeed, the Mintons Ltd. calender of pâte-sur-pâte vases for 1999 features the mate to the present vase on the cover and above the month of June.
U.S. Commissioner Blake, in his Reports of the United States Commissioners to the House of Representatives observes, "To Praise the work of Minton & Co. of Stoke-on-Trent would be to 'gild refined gold'. Their contributions to the Paris Exhibition of 1878 do not lessen their fame; it would be difficult to increase it. We give on this page six of their more prominent productions." [See the illustration at left]
George Augustus Sala in his discursive account Paris Herself Again, p. 199, was equally impressed and described a 'pair of vases of large dimension with cupids clustered round their stems and encircled above by a ring of cupidons in pâte-sur-pâte engaged in demolishing chains of iron and replacing them by chains of roses.' The Art Journal illustrated one of the pair along side his review.
Bernard Bumpus records in Pâte-sur-Pâte, the Art of Ceramic Relief Decoration, London, 1992, p. 117, that the pair was separated: the vase with roses (the present example) was sold to Tiffany in New York in 1878; the other remained with Thomas Goode until 1991.
Solon's notebook also documents this masterwork, recording that a high number of man hours was needed to complete the pair and required the assistance of both Mellor and Frederick Rhead.
The great facination with these vases continues to the present day. Indeed, the Mintons Ltd. calender of pâte-sur-pâte vases for 1999 features the mate to the present vase on the cover and above the month of June.