ONE SIGNED SAMSON, FRANCE, SECOND HALF 19TH CENTURY

Edme ‘Mardoché’ Samson (1810-1891) was the first of his family to open a workshop producing ceramics in Paris in 1845. Working with his son Emile under the name Samson E. Père et Fils Aîné, they participated in the Paris International Exhibition of 1867. The workshop reproduced published Ottoman pieces from important public and private collections and occasionally bought antiques that they sold after copying them. The acquisition of the Salzmann Collection, comprising over 500 Ottoman ceramics, by the Cluny Museum between 1865 and 1878 and later, the great exhibitions of London and Munich ensured a steady rise in interest, demand and prices for Oriental-style ceramics. The Sevres Museum bought pieces from the Samsons in 1878-79 and the Victoria and Albert Museum acquired a few after the Paris Great Exhibition of 1889. Emile and his son Léon worked together under the name Samson et Fils until the beginning of the 20th century.

Another pair of Iznik-style bottles made by Samson sold Christie’s, South Kensington, 6 October 2008, lot 184. A single bottle sold in these Rooms, 7 April 2011, lot 386.