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Lot Essay
The celebrated ceramics 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.
After early training at the Atelier Lecoq, Solon was employed at the Imperial Manufactory at Sèvres in 1857 where he showed a talent for the pâte-sur-pâte technique. With the encourgement of the dealer Eugène Rousseau, Solon was allowed to experiment with this highly demanding decorative technique. Solon's atelier produced small pieces of pâte-sur-pâte and decorative plaques in quite large quantities attracting praise from many quarters, inlcuding Colin Minton Campbell, who purchased many examples in the 1860s.
Solon enjoyed a long and successful association with the Minton factory producing some of the factories most memorable pieces, such as the vase Frise d'Enfants decorated by Solon, Mellor and Rhead; shown at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878. Solon and his workshop exhibited regularly across Europe and America in the last quarter of the 19th century.
For an exhaustive discussion of Solon's work at Minton see Bernard Bumpus, Pâte-sur-Pâte, The Art of Ceramic Relief Decoration, 1849-1992, London, 1992, pp. 100-151.
After early training at the Atelier Lecoq, Solon was employed at the Imperial Manufactory at Sèvres in 1857 where he showed a talent for the pâte-sur-pâte technique. With the encourgement of the dealer Eugène Rousseau, Solon was allowed to experiment with this highly demanding decorative technique. Solon's atelier produced small pieces of pâte-sur-pâte and decorative plaques in quite large quantities attracting praise from many quarters, inlcuding Colin Minton Campbell, who purchased many examples in the 1860s.
Solon enjoyed a long and successful association with the Minton factory producing some of the factories most memorable pieces, such as the vase Frise d'Enfants decorated by Solon, Mellor and Rhead; shown at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878. Solon and his workshop exhibited regularly across Europe and America in the last quarter of the 19th century.
For an exhaustive discussion of Solon's work at Minton see Bernard Bumpus, Pâte-sur-Pâte, The Art of Ceramic Relief Decoration, 1849-1992, London, 1992, pp. 100-151.