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| - You cannot talk about pâte-sur-pâte without mentioning the name of Marc-Louis Solon, who perfected the technique and was for most of his working life the leading exponent of the art; his works are today still regarded as the benchmark. 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 of Sèvres and he was soon after employed as a ceramic 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. Left alone to perfect their skills, the artists at Sèvres reached a hitherto unheard of quality in their pottery. 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's collection, as well as in the collection of the former Minton Museum. The Franco-Prussian War 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, Stoke-on-Trent. Mintons had a history of employing foreign artists. Its first Frenchman arrived in 1848, the art director Léon Arnoux, followed by other French artists such as the sculptor Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, so Solon was joining a small continental community when he settled in Stoke-on-Trent 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 stretching into the early years of the 20th century.
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