Samson & Cie

Important Pair of Potiches, attributed to Samson & Cie, France, Circa 1890 Mark: "AR" interlaced (Manufacture Samson) Height: 59 cm; Diameter: 35 cm Pair of large white porcelain baluster-shaped covered vases in the Chinese style, with polychrome decoration of 18th-century gallant scenes and garlands of flowers. The neck ornamentation is inspired by the famous "caillouttis or" invented at the Manufacture de Sèvres. Lid with gilded knob. BIOGRAPHY Edmé Samson (1810-1891), a ceramic painter and decorator established in 1845 at n°7 rue Vendôme in Paris, bought his blanks, i.e. undecorated porcelain, from various Parisian manufacturers. His son Emile (1837-1913), who succeeded him, began making reproductions of old porcelain. Present at the 1863 Exposition des Beaux-Arts appliqués à l'Industrie, Emile Samson was particularly noted for his porcelain imitating "Old Japan". In 1864, he set up a factory in Montreuil-sous-Bois, near Paris, and enjoyed great success at the Exposition Universelle de Paris in 1867 with his imitations of Saxony, China and Japan, all judged to be of the highest quality. At the 1889 Exposition Universelle, Samson & Cie was renowned for specializing in large-scale pieces in both earthenware and porcelain, with models from the greatest museums in France and abroad, such as the Louvre Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. In 1891, Emile joined forces with his son Léon (1868-1928), under the name of Samson & Fils, who greatly expanded the factory, employing a large number of workers and decorators. In addition to the manufacture and decoration of these porcelains, the Samson factory also had a bronze workshop for their superb mounts. BIBLIOGRAPHY F. Slitine, Samson, génie de l'imitation, Massin, Paris, 2002. Faënce et porcelaine de Paris, XVIIIe-XIXe siècles, Régine de Plinval de Guillebon, Editions Faton, Paris, 1995, p° 406.