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Lot Essay
This impressive and finely decorated vase is copy, larger than the original, of an Iznik vase acquired by the British Museum in 1878 (inv.1878,1230.513). The vase is dated circa 1550-55 and was published as OA16 in a British Museum slide set entitled 'The Turkish Pottery of Iznik' and with a commentary by R. H. Pinder-Wilson (London, 1975). It is also shown in various cities across the world between 2014 and 2016 as part of A History of the World in 100 Objects. The present piece was probably copied by Samson after its acquisition by the British Museum in 1878.
Samson ceramics are amongst the most prestigious made in France during the second half of the 19th century. Edme ‘Mardoché’ Samson (1810-1891) is the first of his family to open a workshop in Paris in 1845. His first pieces are executed in the Romantic style. The production rises throughout the third quarter of the 19th century, following the high demand for luxury objects encouraged by the court of Napoleon III. The workshop starts creating pieces for the export. Edme brings his eldest son Emile to the business and it is under the name Samson E. Père et Fils Aîné that they participate to the Paris International Exhibition of 1867. In 1879 under Emile’s supervision, the workshop is moved to a new site located in Montreuil, just outside Paris, and employs about 125 craftsmen. The production is considered luxurious – the Sevres Museum buy pigments from the Samsons in 1878-79 and the Victoria and Albert Museum acquires a few pieces after the Paris Great Exhibition of 1889. The workshop reproduces published pieces from important public and private collections and occasionally buys antiques that they sell after copying them. A very large dish in the Persian style sold at Christie’s South Kensington, 9 October 2015, lot 443 is a copy of a vessel in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv.890-1876).
Emile and his son Léon worked together under the name Samson et Fils until the beginning of the 20th century.
The publication of Recueil de dessins pour l’Art et l’Industrie, engraved by Adalbert de Beaumont in 1859 after his travels in the Middle East gives Samson an interest for oriental pieces as well as providing ceramicists with a vast repertoire of motifs. Other ceramicists such as Theodore Deck, Edmond Lachenal et Leon Parvillee also start producing pieces in the Islamic style. Copies of Ottoman ceramics are produced in larger numbers by Samson and other makers such as Cantagalli after the purchase by Cluny Museum between 1865 and 1878 of the Salzmann Collection, comprising over 500 Ottoman ceramics. Prices and interest for Ottoman ceramics continue to rise after the exhibitions in London and Munich in 1885, 1907 and 1910. A vase with a similar decoration to the present piece although of smaller size in the Iznik ‘Damascus style’ and with mark ‘E’ is published in Florence Slitine, Samson Génie de l’imitation, Paris, 2002, p.76.
Samson ceramics are amongst the most prestigious made in France during the second half of the 19th century. Edme ‘Mardoché’ Samson (1810-1891) is the first of his family to open a workshop in Paris in 1845. His first pieces are executed in the Romantic style. The production rises throughout the third quarter of the 19th century, following the high demand for luxury objects encouraged by the court of Napoleon III. The workshop starts creating pieces for the export. Edme brings his eldest son Emile to the business and it is under the name Samson E. Père et Fils Aîné that they participate to the Paris International Exhibition of 1867. In 1879 under Emile’s supervision, the workshop is moved to a new site located in Montreuil, just outside Paris, and employs about 125 craftsmen. The production is considered luxurious – the Sevres Museum buy pigments from the Samsons in 1878-79 and the Victoria and Albert Museum acquires a few pieces after the Paris Great Exhibition of 1889. The workshop reproduces published pieces from important public and private collections and occasionally buys antiques that they sell after copying them. A very large dish in the Persian style sold at Christie’s South Kensington, 9 October 2015, lot 443 is a copy of a vessel in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv.890-1876).
Emile and his son Léon worked together under the name Samson et Fils until the beginning of the 20th century.
The publication of Recueil de dessins pour l’Art et l’Industrie, engraved by Adalbert de Beaumont in 1859 after his travels in the Middle East gives Samson an interest for oriental pieces as well as providing ceramicists with a vast repertoire of motifs. Other ceramicists such as Theodore Deck, Edmond Lachenal et Leon Parvillee also start producing pieces in the Islamic style. Copies of Ottoman ceramics are produced in larger numbers by Samson and other makers such as Cantagalli after the purchase by Cluny Museum between 1865 and 1878 of the Salzmann Collection, comprising over 500 Ottoman ceramics. Prices and interest for Ottoman ceramics continue to rise after the exhibitions in London and Munich in 1885, 1907 and 1910. A vase with a similar decoration to the present piece although of smaller size in the Iznik ‘Damascus style’ and with mark ‘E’ is published in Florence Slitine, Samson Génie de l’imitation, Paris, 2002, p.76.