An absolutely fascinating design and in a
most unusual colour too having a sense of 'arts
& crafts movement style' and secessionist
precursor to art nouveau. Full of movement the
curvaceous lines have a whimsical sexiness to
them, the increasing size and development of the
flowers as they rise captures natural appeal.
One of the most modern designs that Mintons ever
produced being registered in the last few months
of 1896, despite that it is still a rarely found
design. From the Léon-Victor Solon era at
Mintons introduced the year following his
joining the company, to my mind Mintons'
greatest period.
The flow of the leaves has some of the
'whiplash' feel characteristic of art nouveau
yet has elements of random aesthetic style of
patterns from the mid 1870s, like pattern
numbers 1536, 1537 and 1538 found in the Mintons
catalogue. The probably honeysuckle flowers are
also not so disimilar to wavy line honeysuckle
ornaments found on ancient greek vases. An
interesting mix of influences combining to give
an innovative and modern design.
The colour is also most unusual a rather deep
orange rather than red. All shades of red have
always been difficult to reproduce in ceramics
in particular achieving a red stable enough to
withstand the higher temperatures of underglaze
firing. It may be noted that William de Morgan
produced neither underglaze or inglaze red only
making red as lustre. This is overglaze printed
indicating that even in 1896 it was necessary to
decorate overglaze to achieve this particular
shade. Mintons were leaders in printing
technology it is very rare to find overglaze
printing by them, so it appears that the process
was selected in order to achieve the colour,
other unusual colours appear on the few
varieties of similar designs of the period.
Early for art nouveau design and a good one
for debating the merits of its style for my
research and objéts indicate 1898 as the
presumptive earliest date for industrially made
art nouveau, This perhaps best described as a
forward looking arts & crafts floral design
anticipating or a precursor to art nouveau,
certainly very stylised and coincides with
Léon Solon's arrival at Mintons when
there was a rebirth in its tile making and to my
mind they produced their greatest tiles.
Léon Solon joined Mintons in 1895 as a
designer and virtually coincided with their
making tiles in the modern majolica technique
indeed from thenceforth majolica was the
predominent technique for new designs. Majolica
of course is limited in the fine detail that can
be achieved, printing enabled a much finer line
and more of a unity of colour.
Solon was hired by Mintons after his work was
published in the hugely influential design
magazine The Studio, he worked for the company
until 1905 including for five years as Art
Director. Solon was strongly influenced by the
Viennese Secessionist art movement, founded by
Gustav Klimt and others, and Mintons produced a
range of "Secessionist Ware" much of which was
designed by Solon.
Versos embossed Mintons etc slightly
indistinct due to a well worn back plate,
partial/indistinct printed pattern and design
registration numbers, some clay loss from
water-based adhesive.