DOI Heft:
No. 10 (January, 1894)
DOI Artikel:Solon, Louis M.: Pâte sur pâte
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17189#0131
Pdte sur Pdte
the well-known painter, proposed that I should soon replaced by various other terms, such a
accompany him to England. Being then in a " Pate rapportee," " Pate duplication," used
very precarious state of health and incapable of ever since.
taking any part in the defence of the territory, I Am I presuming too much if I take it for granted
eagerly seized the opportunity thus offered to me that the effects obtained on porcelain by " Pate sur
to end the embarrassment of my perplexing situ- Pate " decoration are sufficiently known to absolve
ation. The goal of my journey presented itself me from the necessity of writing a lengthy de-
at once to my mind. Minton's factory, the name scription ? It may not be inopportune, however,
of which stood foremost amongst the names of the if I point out the difference existing between this
most celebrated ceramic establishments of Europe, process and-a few others which maybe thought
was the place where I felt confident I should find akin to it in their results. The Wedgwood jasper
permanent employment. My previsions did not ware, for instance, although offering likewise white
betray me ; the day after my arrival at Stoke-on- reliefs on coloured grounds, is, as the reader is no
Trent I was at work doing my preliminary trials, doubt well aware, produced by mechanical means,
having been most graciously welcomed by Mr. C. Each part of a given model is pressed separately in
M. Campbell, at that time the head of the firm, a plaster mould, and subsequently stuck on the
Friendless, full of anxieties of all sorts, the con- even surface of the piece to be decorated. It
genial and regular occupation I found in the may be multiplied to an unlimited number of
factory alone saved me from utter discouragement, copies ; a careful workman is equal to the task.
The change was indeed an abrupt and strange one A " Pate sur Pate " bas-relief, on the contrary, is
from my former Parisian life. I shall never forget always an original; a repetition of it could only
the tumbledown and disused workshop where I was be made by the artist who has executed the first
at first located, until the comfortable studio, which one. In the Limoges enamels, sometimes men-
I still occupy, had been made ready to receive me. tioned as presenting some analogy, the difference
It overlooked a dreary stretch of waste ground, is still better marked, for in this case effect is not
animated only by a lonely horse turning slowly obtained by gradation of reliefs, but rather of lights
and steadily the shaft of a mill for grinding broken and shades. The dark tint of the ground is taken
saggars. In my loneliness I felt a sort of sympathy advantage of to form the shadows, and the white
for the patient animal, and I could not help com- enamel comes into play, just as white chalk inter-
paring the life in store for me henceforth with that venes in an effective drawing on tinted paper,
of this humble but useful helpmate, another " Pate sur Pate" decoration may be executed
working unit in the complex organisation consti- upon any semi-vitriliable body; but the material
tuting the mighty China Works to which I foresaw used for the applied parts must always be of the
my life was linked for ever. This is sufficient to same nature as the mass of which the piece itself
show that the time of probation was for me a trial is formed. The hard porcelain paste is, for
in more senses than one. But as peace and hope density and fineness of substance, superior to
were returning to me, things soon assumed a more any other; it is the one employed in France and
pleasant aspect, and I lived to appreciate more and in Germany. But as very few metallic oxides can
more the value of steady and useful labour. My stand the high degree of heat to which it has to be
efforts have not remained unrewarded, and when I submitted, the scale of available colours is, conse-
cast a backward glance at
the years gone by I may
say that I could not have
wished for a better life
than the one I have spent
amongst my English
friends.
The name of " Pate sur
Pate" (body upon body)
always seemed to me most
appropriate to the pro-
cess, and I adopted it,
although at the manu-
factory of Sevres it was from a plaque by m. l. solon
nc,
the well-known painter, proposed that I should soon replaced by various other terms, such a
accompany him to England. Being then in a " Pate rapportee," " Pate duplication," used
very precarious state of health and incapable of ever since.
taking any part in the defence of the territory, I Am I presuming too much if I take it for granted
eagerly seized the opportunity thus offered to me that the effects obtained on porcelain by " Pate sur
to end the embarrassment of my perplexing situ- Pate " decoration are sufficiently known to absolve
ation. The goal of my journey presented itself me from the necessity of writing a lengthy de-
at once to my mind. Minton's factory, the name scription ? It may not be inopportune, however,
of which stood foremost amongst the names of the if I point out the difference existing between this
most celebrated ceramic establishments of Europe, process and-a few others which maybe thought
was the place where I felt confident I should find akin to it in their results. The Wedgwood jasper
permanent employment. My previsions did not ware, for instance, although offering likewise white
betray me ; the day after my arrival at Stoke-on- reliefs on coloured grounds, is, as the reader is no
Trent I was at work doing my preliminary trials, doubt well aware, produced by mechanical means,
having been most graciously welcomed by Mr. C. Each part of a given model is pressed separately in
M. Campbell, at that time the head of the firm, a plaster mould, and subsequently stuck on the
Friendless, full of anxieties of all sorts, the con- even surface of the piece to be decorated. It
genial and regular occupation I found in the may be multiplied to an unlimited number of
factory alone saved me from utter discouragement, copies ; a careful workman is equal to the task.
The change was indeed an abrupt and strange one A " Pate sur Pate " bas-relief, on the contrary, is
from my former Parisian life. I shall never forget always an original; a repetition of it could only
the tumbledown and disused workshop where I was be made by the artist who has executed the first
at first located, until the comfortable studio, which one. In the Limoges enamels, sometimes men-
I still occupy, had been made ready to receive me. tioned as presenting some analogy, the difference
It overlooked a dreary stretch of waste ground, is still better marked, for in this case effect is not
animated only by a lonely horse turning slowly obtained by gradation of reliefs, but rather of lights
and steadily the shaft of a mill for grinding broken and shades. The dark tint of the ground is taken
saggars. In my loneliness I felt a sort of sympathy advantage of to form the shadows, and the white
for the patient animal, and I could not help com- enamel comes into play, just as white chalk inter-
paring the life in store for me henceforth with that venes in an effective drawing on tinted paper,
of this humble but useful helpmate, another " Pate sur Pate" decoration may be executed
working unit in the complex organisation consti- upon any semi-vitriliable body; but the material
tuting the mighty China Works to which I foresaw used for the applied parts must always be of the
my life was linked for ever. This is sufficient to same nature as the mass of which the piece itself
show that the time of probation was for me a trial is formed. The hard porcelain paste is, for
in more senses than one. But as peace and hope density and fineness of substance, superior to
were returning to me, things soon assumed a more any other; it is the one employed in France and
pleasant aspect, and I lived to appreciate more and in Germany. But as very few metallic oxides can
more the value of steady and useful labour. My stand the high degree of heat to which it has to be
efforts have not remained unrewarded, and when I submitted, the scale of available colours is, conse-
cast a backward glance at
the years gone by I may
say that I could not have
wished for a better life
than the one I have spent
amongst my English
friends.
The name of " Pate sur
Pate" (body upon body)
always seemed to me most
appropriate to the pro-
cess, and I adopted it,
although at the manu-
factory of Sevres it was from a plaque by m. l. solon
nc,