About this work
This is a rare example of decoration in a mature Art Nouveau style executed by a British ceramic factory. Doulton & Co.’s ‘lactolian ware’ employed a type of pâte-sur-pâte (paste-on-paste) decoration, in which ornament was built up upon the surface of a vase with thin layers of liquid porcelain paste. It was a very time-consuming process and very little lactolian ware was ever produced. Lactolian wares were featured by Doulton & Co. at the Paris 1900 International Exhibition, and it is probable that this vase by Robert Allen was produced for the Paris exhibition.