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''Pâte-sur-pâte'' is a French term meaning "paste on paste". It is a method of
porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...
decoration in which a relief design is created on an unfired, unglazed body, usually with a coloured body, by applying successive layers of (usually) white porcelain
slip Slip or The Slip may refer to: * Slip (clothing), an underdress or underskirt Music * The Slip (band), a rock band * ''Slip'' (album), a 1993 album by the band Quicksand * ''The Slip'' (album) (2008), a.k.a. Halo 27, the seventh studio al ...
(liquid
clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
) with a brush. Once the main shape is built up, it is carved away to give fine detail, before the piece is fired. The work is very painstaking and may take weeks of adding extra layers and allowing them to harden before the next is applied. The usual colour scheme is a white relief on a contrasting coloured background, which in England was often Parian ware. The effect is somewhat similar to other types of relief decoration, in particular sprigging. However, unlike
Jasperware Jasperware, or jasper ware, is a type of pottery first developed by Josiah Wedgwood in the 1770s. Usually described as stoneware, it has an unglazed matte "biscuit" finish and is produced in a number of different colours, of which the most com ...
, for example, a mould is not normally used, and the ceramic artist is able to achieve translucency. The method also gives results resembling cameos in stone or
cameo glass Cameo glass is a luxury form of glass art produced by cameo glass engraving or etching and carving through fused layers of differently colored glass to produce designs, usually with white opaque glass figures and motifs on a dark-colored backgro ...
. The development of pâte-sur-pâte dates back to 1850 in France, and an accident that occurred at the
Manufacture nationale de Sèvres The ''Manufacture nationale de Sèvres'' () is one of the principal European porcelain factories. It is located in Sèvres, Hauts-de-Seine, France. It is the continuation of Vincennes porcelain, founded in 1740, which moved to Sèvres in 1756. ...
. The company was trying to reproduce a decorative technique from a Chinese
vase A vase ( or ) is an open container. It can be made from a number of materials, such as ceramics, glass, non- rusting metals, such as aluminium, brass, bronze, or stainless steel. Even wood has been used to make vases, either by using tree specie ...
, but misinterpreting the vase, the experiment took them along a different path from the Chinese potter. They perfected what became known as pâte-sur-pâte.
Marc-Louis Solon Marc-Louis-Emmanuel Solon (1835 – 23 June 1913), pseudonym ''Miles'', was a French porcelain artist. After beginning his career at the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, Sèvres Pottery, he moved to Stoke-on-Trent in 1870 to work at Mintons Ltd ...
took the style to England, and others to Germany and Austria. The period within 15 years either side of 1900 was the heyday of the technique. Many pieces made in the State, formerly Imperial Porcelain Factory in Leningrad after World War II are said to use it, but are perhaps sprigged, then hand-finished. Bronislav Bystrushkin designed many, mostly using the classic Jasperware "Wedgwood blue" and white.


Nineteenth century

Another notable maker was
Marc-Louis Solon Marc-Louis-Emmanuel Solon (1835 – 23 June 1913), pseudonym ''Miles'', was a French porcelain artist. After beginning his career at the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, Sèvres Pottery, he moved to Stoke-on-Trent in 1870 to work at Mintons Ltd ...
, who perfected the technique and was for most of his working life the leading exponent of the technique. Solon was born in France in 1835 and from an early age developed a considerable talent for art. Some of Solon's work later fell to the attention of the
art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...
of Sèvres and he was soon after employed as a
ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...
artist and designer. He was tasked along with H Regnault and Gelly to work upon the pâte-sur-pâte process which was still only at the trial stage. Sèvres reached a high level of refinement of their
pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...
. Praising the facilities of the day, Solon commented that "We were never limited as to time and cost", a luxury in any industry. Solon also began to produce pieces of pâte-sur-pâte in his own time under the name Miles, said to be based on his initials M L S. There are a number of these in the
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
's collection, as well as in the collection of the former Minton Museum. The
Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
of 1870 led Solon to flee his native country and seek refuge in England, where he established contact with Colin Minton Campbell of
Mintons Ltd Mintons was a major company in Staffordshire pottery, "Europe's leading ceramic factory during the Victorian era", an independent business from 1793 to 1968. It was a leader in ceramic design, working in a number of different ceramic bodies, ...
,
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...
. Mintons had a history of employing foreign artists. Its first Frenchman arrived in 1848, the art director Léon Arnoux, followed by other French makers such as the sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, so Solon was joining a small continental community when he settled in Staffordshire and married Arnoux's daughter. The Solons brought up a large family at The Villas near the Mintons factory. To meet the demand for pâte-sur-pâte he was assigned English apprentices including Frederick Alfred Rhead. There ensued a golden age of pâte-sur-pâte in
Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...
stretching into the early years of the 20th century.


Pâte-sur-pâte in the twentieth century

Minton remained the main producer of pâté-sur-pâté in the twentieth century, despite competition from other firms. However, Minton faced financial problems at the beginning of the twentieth century and pâté-sur-pâté became less important to the firm's output. After Solon retired, his son Leon Solon was art director at Minton, but he was associated with tube-lined
Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...
designs rather than pâte-sur-pâte. With Solon's death in 1913 and the advent of the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, an era had ended for pâte-sur-pâte. After the War its popularity declined like other nineteenth-century fashions. However, there was still some demand, and Minton continued to produce pâté-sur-pâté until the outbreak of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, when the production of decorated ceramics was severely curtailed. After the Second World War, business improved at Minton and the firm considered resuming production of pâte-sur-pâte, for which there was still some demand. However, with the passing away of Solon's apprentices, the scarcity of suitable artists posed a problem. It was not until 1992 that Minton used the technique once more in order to mark the firm's bicentenary. The result was a small number of vases, produced to some degree of success, these later vases being reproductions of earlier pieces by Alboin Birks, a gifted apprentice of Solon, who used moulds to speed production and combat costs. Although tableware continues to be produced under the Minton brand-name, there is no longer a Minton factory. The Victorian buildings were replaced in the 1950s and these were in turn demolished when much pottery production moved overseas at the end of the twentieth century.


American production

The French potter Taxile Doat was responsible for some production in the US at
University City, Missouri University City (colloquially, U. City) is an inner-ring suburb of the city of St. Louis in St. Louis County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was measured at 35,065 by the 2020 census. The city is one of the older suburbs in th ...
in the early twentieth century. He was recruited by
Edward Gardner Lewis Edward Gardner Lewis (March 4, 1869 – August 10, 1950) was an American magazine publisher, land development promoter, and political activist. He was the founder of two planned communities that are now cities: University City, Missouri, and Atas ...
for an Art Academy and Porcelain Works which was part of the People's University. File:Vase à couvercle avec deux puttis en pâte-sur-pâte.JPG,
Sèvres porcelain Sèvres (, ) is a French Communes of France, commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris. It is located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department of the Île-de-France region. The commune, which had a populatio ...
vase, c. 1865 File:Vase (England), 1871-1875 (CH 18633979-2).jpg,
Mintons Mintons was a major company in Staffordshire pottery, "Europe's leading ceramic factory during the Victorian era", an independent business from 1793 to 1968. It was a leader in ceramic design, working in a number of different ceramic bodies, ...
vases with cranes, 1871-1875 File:Plaque with Tree Spirits LACMA AC1995.98.2.1-.2.jpg, Solon plaque of Tree Spirits, 1880; made by
Mintons Mintons was a major company in Staffordshire pottery, "Europe's leading ceramic factory during the Victorian era", an independent business from 1793 to 1968. It was a leader in ceramic design, working in a number of different ceramic bodies, ...
for
Tiffany & Co Tiffany & Co. (colloquially known as Tiffany's) is an American luxury goods, luxury jewelry and specialty design house headquartered on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Tiffany is known for its luxury goods, particularly its sterling silver and diam ...
File:Bistr chainik sadko.jpg, Leningrad coffee pot, with Ruslan and Ludmila, c. 1969 File:Ruslan ludmila kofeynik detal 1000.jpg, Detail of last


References


External links


Pate Sur Pate artist Dale Bowen website





Potteries Museum & Art Gallery
Examples of ''pâte-sur-pâte'' are to be found in the
Potteries Museum & Art Gallery The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery is in Bethesda Street, Hanley, one of the six towns of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. Admission is free. One of the four local authority museums in the city, the other three being Gladstone Pottery Museum, ...
including items from the former Minton museum. The website has
search facility
which allows you to view images of ''pâte-sur-pâte'' (if you type in the keyword "Solon"). {{DEFAULTSORT:Pate-sur-pate Porcelain Types of pottery decoration