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"La Grace" Vase

1875
Decoration designed and executed by Marc-Louis-Emmanuel Solon (French, 1835–1913) Made by Mintons, Stoke-on-Trent, England (English, 1793–2005)

With two layers of different colors and classical subjects suggestive of ancient cameo decoration, this vase reflected an aristocratic taste for Greek and Roman antiquity. Designed and decorated by Marc-Louis-Emmanuel Solon, it features the much admired and costly technique of pâte-sur-pâte (paste on paste), which involved building up low sculptural reliefs against a dark ground with successive layers of transparent white slip. Solon brought this novel technique with him when he emigrated to England and the Staffordshire factory of Herbert Minton in 1870, where his pâte-sur-pâte ceramics became popular as expensive luxury items. This and a companion vase (1876-1619) were among the purchases made by the newly founded museum from the London china merchant A. B. Daniell & Son, which represented Minton at the Philadelphia International (Centennial) Exhibition of 1876.


Object Details

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