SAMSON & CO. (designers)
An original design for a porcelain pitcher
[Paris: 1845 or later]. Pen, ink, and watercolour. Good condition apart from some overall light soiling and minor foxing. Sheet size: 11 x 12 inches.
A rare example of an original watercolour design for porcelain, by the Samson factory of Paris.
This drawing presents a finished watercolour elevation of a large baluster-shaped pitcher, with additional details of the handle, border ornament, and a separate shield-shaped side panel drawn to the right. The vessel is decorated in bright greens, blues, ochres, and reds: broad bands of scrolling foliage encircle the neck and handle, while the body is divided into teardrop-shaped cartouches filled with floral arrangements, foliage, and patterned grounds. Smaller motifs like flowers, leaves, latticework, and geometric borders fill the remaining surface. The French porcelain manufactory Samson & Co. was founded in 1845 by Edmé Samson (1810-1891), a Paris-born painter on ceramics who began by making replacement pieces for damaged services before turning to high-quality reproductions of historic wares. Working first at 7, rue Vendôme (later rue Béranger) in Paris and later from a factory at Montreuil run by his son Emile Samson (1837-1913), the firm drew on a large study collection of original pieces to copy or adapt designs from Sèvres, Meissen, Chelsea, Derby and Worcester, as well as Chinese export porcelain, Japanese, Islamic, Delft, faience and maiolica. Samson always maintained that its reproductions were distinctly marked to avoid confusion with the originals, though later removal or alteration of marks has often led the firms work to be mistaken for earlier pieces. Production continued into the twentieth century, finally ceasing in 1969, and the manufactory is now recognised as one of the most inventive nineteenth-century interpreters of historic ceramic styles. Surviving design drawings such as the present work offer rare insight into the way the Samson workshop translated museum models and historic patterns into working colour copies for its painters and modellers.
Item #14128
Price: $650.00