A RARE PAIR OF MINTONS PÂTE-SUR-PÂTE PEACOCK-BLUE-GROUND TWO-HANDLED BOTTLE EXHIBITION VASES, CIRCA 1877

Lot Closed

October 21, 05:54 PM GMT

Estimate

20,000 - 30,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property from a Private New Jersey Collection.

A RARE PAIR OF MINTONS PÂTE-SUR-PÂTE PEACOCK-BLUE-GROUND TWO-HANDLED BOTTLE EXHIBITION VASES, CIRCA 1877

decorated by Marc Louis Solon, one signed in white slip L Solon, the other with MLS monogram within the white slip decoration, of flattened form affixed at the shoulder with two arched handles, each decorated with a maiden teaching cupid to shoot a bow and arrow supported on an elaborate scrollwork pedestal, the reverses with a trophy supporting fruit, the neck and foot decorated in black and carnelian-red slip enriched in gilding, the sides decorated in stylized Greek-scrollwork and anthemion in pale-blue, carnelian-red and ochre-yellow, impressed MINTONS mark, shape number 1819, indistinct circular form date code, gilt retailer's mark for A.B. Daniell and Son of 46 Wigmore Street, London

height 10¼ in.

26 cm

Acquired in the 1950's by the parents of the present owner.

Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878, Virtue, London, 1878, p. 103 (one of the pair)

The vase depicting a Cupid standing shooting an arrow in the present lot is illustrated in Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878, p. 103, where it is stated: "MINTON, of Stoke-upon-Trent; the whole collection, of great extent and very large value is exhibited under their auspices. They are men whose judgment, knowledge, and taste have given them foremost rank among the "purveyors" of British porcelain...", on p. 34 it is stated "To praise the works of MINTON & Co., of Stoke-upon-Trent, would be to 'gild refined gold.'

In his early years at the Minton factory, Louis Solon continued to sign his pieces with the monogram 'MLS' which he had used while working at the Sevres factory. In about 1873 he begins to use the fuller signature 'L. Solon', though the monogram is recorded on pieces in the later 1870's. In 1873 the factory changed its impressed mark from Minton to 'Mintons'

The retailer A. B. Daniell & Son represented three of the major British ceramic factories, Minton, Worcester and Coalport, at several of the International exhibitions. A particularly lavish display was the 1876 Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, as recorded in surviving stereograph cards of the time. At this exhibition the Philadelphia Museum acquired 13 ceramics from the retailer, including two Minton pâte-sur-pâte vases by Solon titled "L'Echange", and "La Grace".

The stylized foliate motifs seen on the sides of the present pair can be compared with other early vases by Solon, such as a pea-green ground pilgrim flask, circa 1872, sold at Sotheby's London, April 14-15, 2008, lot 45, and a pair of blue-ground 'Pompeian' vases, circa 1874, from the Starr Collection, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

A pair of chocolate-brown ground flasks of this form by Solon, circa 1880, was sold at Christie's New York, October 26, 2004, lot 113.