A PAIR OF MINTONS PATE-SUR-PATE PEACOCK-BLUE AND CHOCOLATE-BROWN VASES, 'GRIMPEURES'

1881, IMPRESSED UPPERCASE MARKS, LISTED AS SHAPE NO. 1722, SIGNED AND DATED L.(OUIS) SOLON 81

Details

A PAIR OF MINTONS PATE-SUR-PATE PEACOCK-BLUE AND CHOCOLATE-BROWN VASES, 'GRIMPEURES'
1881, impressed uppercase marks, listed as shape no. 1722, signed and dated L.(ouis) Solon 81
The cylindrical neck decorated in polychrome slip with the head and wings of a goddess reserved on a gilt mosaic ground, the reverse with a brazier flanked by hooded cobra, the strap loop handles with rosette terminals, each body finely painted and hand-tooled in white slip with a continuous frieze of diaphanously draped maidens either ascending ladders or descending ropes, the shoulder with putti among clouds, respectively gathering stars or scattering hearts, the lower body decorated with stylized flowers above a gilt key-pattern band, on a stepped foot and square base
16¾ in. (42.5 cm.) high (2)

Lot Essay

Solon's Illustrated Journal records the present pair as completed between the 11th of October and the 11th of December. The margins note a combined minimum of 79 days of labour.

See Bernard Bumpus, Pâte-sur-Pâte, The Art of Ceramic Relief Decoration, 1849-1992, London, 1992, p. 124, fig. 80 for a similar pair titled 'Terrain miné' entered in Solon's Journal the following May and possibly conceived as the contra partie. Here the maidens are either undermined by putti or are attempting to rescue putti from collapsed caverns.

The overleaf illustrates half of a rare drawing by Solon conserved by the Mintons Archive, No. 49, B634. The full study reveals two of the maidens on one of the present pair.

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

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