Marc-Louis-Emmanuel Solon was born in 1835 in Montauban (France). Some of Solon’s works attracted the attention of the artistic director of the Sevres manufactory. Solon worked in Sevres from 1862 to 1870 as a ceramic artist and designer, where he studied and, together with such masters as Regno and Gelly, began to perfect the Pâte-sur-pâte technique, which consists in creating a relief design by applying a large brush with a brush. the number of layers of white porcelain slip (liquid clay) on the colored unglazed surface of the product.
Recalling his work at Sevres, Solon remarked: “We were never limited in time and cost.” And this speaks of the company’s high confidence in the developers of the new technology. His early work was published under the pseudonym Miles, which is based on his initials MLS, which is how he signed his work in Sevres and during his early years in England.
Plate diameter 23.5 cm Mintons circa 1891.
During his time at Mintons, Solon became the company’s leading specialist. This was the golden age of pate-sur-pâte, which lasted until the early years of the 20th century. Solon raised a whole generation of students, including Frederick Alfred Rhed and Alboin Birks. Frederic Alfred Read and Albuin Burke.
Albert Solon co-founded the American ceramic tile firm Solon and Schemmel Tile Company in California. They were later joined by their brother Camille Antoine Arnoux Solon (1877–1960), who was already a renowned British muralist.
Marc-Louis Solon worked at Mintons until his retirement in 1903, but after that he continued to be commissioned for the work he created in his home workshop until 1909. He died at Stoke-on-Trent on June 23, 1913, at the age of 78. His works are the pride of the porcelain collections of the best museums in the world.
Works by Marc Louis Solon
Porcelain plate with a girl playing the flute and three caged putti 20 cm high Mintons circa 1890Vase adorned with a smiling nymph wearing a winged hat to her right four arrows of Cupid height 34.8 cm Mintons 1905Vase with Cupid juggling three hearts 24 cm high Mintons 1900Vase Bath.The vase depicting bathing girls is related by plot to the previous vase height 25.5 cm Mintons 1895.Bathing Cupids vase dated 1895 Mintons height 22 cm.Pair of vases height 31.4 cm Mintons circa 1897. Both are decorated with nymphs flanked by two cupids.Vase decorated with Cupid climbing a rope ladder height 33.8 cm Mintons 1893.Vase depicting small children being carried through the air on large butterflies 32 cm high. Mintons completed 1900. According to the Minton archives it took Louis Solon 20 days to make it.Pair of vases height 37 cm Mintons 1897.Plate diameter 23.5 cm Mintons circa 1891.Pilgrim flask height 27.6 cm Mintons 1884.Green vase decorated with a large scene of girls shooting hovering cupids with arrows height 65 cm Mintons 1883 1884.Pair of celadon vases decorated with a girl carrying a vase of flowers and a girl carrying a candle accompanied by cherubs Mintons 1870.Pair of carnelian colored vases height 48 cm Mintons 1878.Vase decorated with a cupid holding a bird with a love message height 15.4 cm Mintons 1872.Vase by Marc Louis Solon dated 1876 Mintons height 39.8 cm.Lidded vase from the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum 34.3 cm high Mintons 1898.Pair of Half and Whole vases by Marc Louis Solon from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art height 26 cm Mintons circa 1895 1899.Vase depicting a seated Siamese woman dressed in elaborate costume 38 cm high Mintons circa 1901 1902. The shape of this vase the Siamese Bottle was designed by Solon.Porcelain tray painted by Marc Louis Solon. This is a rare example of colored slip painting in the Pate sur pate style.Pompeian vase with lid by Marc Louis Solon from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art height 39.4 cm Mintons circa 1874.Moonflask by Marc Louis Solon 15 cm high Mintons 1873This elephant head coffee pot by Marc Louis Solon inspired by oriental motifs was presented at the London International Exhibition of 1862 by the French factory Sevres.Porcelain plate painted by Marc Louis Solon before he moved to England height 28 cm 1865. A girl in a transparent robe symbolizing Hope stands on a pedestal leaning against an anchor.Pilgrims flask by Marc Louis Solon depicting a blind cherub begging for alms Mintons 1872.Pair of pilgrim’s flasks, decorated with figures of Cupid and Psyche, from the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, height 26 cm, Mintons, 1875. Acquired at the 1876 Philadelphia International Exhibition.Parian pottery vase with Pompeian polychrome decoration, 1876. Figures by Marc Louis Solon, ornaments by Henry Sanders. The vase was purchased for the Victoria and Albert Museum at the 1876 Philadelphia International Exhibition.
