A PAIR OF MINTONS PATE-SUR-PATE OLIVE-BROWN VASES, 'VENIT & FUGIT'

DATE CYPHER FOR 1892, GILT GLOBE MARK AND RETAILER'S BANNER FOR PHILLIPS, OXFORD STREET, LONDON, IMPRESSED UPPERCASE MARK AND SHAPE NO. 2810, INSCRIBED IN GILT SCRIPT LOUIS W. WINANS, FEBRUARY 1896, BOTH SIGNED L.(OUIS) SOLON

Details

A PAIR OF MINTONS PATE-SUR-PATE OLIVE-BROWN VASES, 'VENIT & FUGIT'
Date cypher for 1892, gilt globe mark and retailer's banner for Phillips, Oxford Street, London, impressed uppercase mark and shape no. 2810, inscribed in gilt script Louis W. Winans, February 1896, both signed L.(ouis) Solon
Oviform, the trumpet neck enriched in gilt with stylized anthemion and faux flutes above key-pattern, flanked by knotted divided loop handles, the body finely painted and hand-tooled in white slip with a continuous scene either of a maiden trying to fetter putti with straps and chains or coyly receiving putti bearing hearts, the respective obverse inscribed in Latin 'FUGIT' or 'VENIT' with putti in retreat fleeing through clouds or entering as heralds of triumph, on a conforming socle
21 1/8 in. (53.5 cm.) high (2)

Provenance

From the Collection of the late Louis W. Winans Esq., Sold by Order of a Descendant, Christie's, London, 27 October 1980, lot 54.

Lot Essay

Solon's Illustrated Journal records the present pair as worked on between the 11th of August and the 11th of September 1891. The margin records a minimum of 60 days of combined labour.

See Bernard Bumpus, Pâte-sur-Pâte, The Art of Ceramic Relief Decoration, 1849-1992, London, 1992, p. 136 for a pair of the same form, dated 1891, titled 'Poisson et Oiseau', noted as purchased by Phillips of Oxford Street. For this pair also see Joan Jones, Minton, Two Hundred Years of Design & Production, Shrewsbury, 1993, p. 198 and The Minton Vases 1999 Calendar, November.

See the archival index on page 58 for a period photograph of the present lot.

The present pair of vases was formerly in the collection of Louis Winans of Brighton, England, the son of a Baltimore, Maryland railroad engineer who helped supervise the construction of the first commercial railroad from St. Petersburg to Moscow. He was also the one time owner of the legendary 'Agra Diamond' and 'The Golden Drop'.

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