Signed L. Solon and dated '79 lower left.

Provenance: Sir Frederick Dixon Dixon-Hartland (1832-1909) and Agnes Dixon Dixon-Hartland (1860-1955), part of the collection at Ashley Manor in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire;
Amy Friedswede Dixon-Hartland (1870-1956);
Agnes Friedeswede Cecil Cowper Borrozzino (1896-1982);
Thence by descent, Private collection Rome.

High quality example of one of the most characteristic manufactures of the Victorian age in the field of decorative arts, this rare plaque decorated with mythological figures represented halfway between a rigorous "after the antique" aesthetic and an ironic mood, in the typical taste of the time, bears the signature of Marc-Louis Solon, the true master of the technique known as "pâte-sur-pâte" (a complex layered process to decorate ceramic surfaces) and the greatest exponent of the artistic production of the Mintons factory in Stoke-on-Trent starting from 1870. It was in that year that Solon reached England fleeing from France which had lost the war with Prussia, after several years of employment at the Sèvres factory, where he had learned and refined the "pâte- sur-pâte" technique and had drawn extensively, as artistic inspiration, from the Greco-Roman figurative heritage, as well as from the French 18th century. Soon the demand on the English market for objects with this type of decoration (plaques, vases, "after the antique" urns, etc.) was such as to force Solon to form a group of pupils who were able to master this complex technique, including Alboin Birks and Frederick Alfred Rhead, however remaining in charge of a production that continued to enjoy extraordinary success throughout the end of the century and which extended until the early 1900s.
Formerly part of the collection of Sir Frederick Dixon Dixon-Hartland (1832-1909) in his villa of Ashley Manor in Cheltenham, the plaque presented here is distinguished by the high quality of the decoration and by the sure attribution to Solon himself, a real gem in the context of decorative arts of the late 19th century in England and Europe.