Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
Lot 222
An important pair of Minton pâte-sur-pâte vases and covers by Marc Louis Solon, circa 1900
19 November 2025, 10:30 GMT
London, Knightsbridge£8,000 - £12,000
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Fergus Gambon
Director
Jim Peake
Head of Department
An important pair of Minton pâte-sur-pâte vases and covers by Marc Louis Solon, circa 1900
Of slender ovoid form with acanthus leaf handles picked out in gold, the dark brown grounds finely decorated in opaque white with a kneeling winged Cupid holding a lamp to his face, one lighting it with a spill, the other blowing it out, the brackets upon which they rest signed 'L Solon', the reverses with a formal motif in raised gilding, the necks, feet and domed covers also with formal foliate decoration in gold, 26cm high, impressed MINTONS and indistinct swan date ciphers for 1895-1900, printed globe marks in gold and incised shape no.3257 (4)
Footnotes
These vases are listed in the pâte-sur-pâte estimate book in the Minton Archive as number 'NP1263' in an entry dated 24 February 1905, where they are described as 'Lighting & Extinguishing Lamp' on vase shape no.3257. The cost of production was £10 11s 5d, and a pencil note by the entry reads 'Sold Phillips' with a retail price of 15 guineas added underneath. Solon left Minton in September 1904, and the date of the entry indicates that the gilding was completed after he left. They are not recorded in the record of Solon's pâte-sur-pâte output, in which the last entries are dated January 1904, so it is likely that the pair was decorated by Solon later in 1904 and the gilding completed just after he left the factory. Bonhams is grateful to Stoke-on-Trent City Archives for their assistance in researching this lot.