A very lovely Art Nouveau Doulton Faience vase by Agnes EM Baigent c1903. The vase is of inverted baluster form with short collar neck and everted rim. Hand painted with stylised wisteria foliage and flowers on a striking deep-lilac ground. Impressed Doulton Lambeth Faience mark and Doulton Lambeth printed mark (used until c1903). Signed with Agnes EM Baigent's monogram (EM inside AB), The vase measures 30.5 cm in height.
 
Doulton Lambeth launched its Faience wares in 1873 as a revival of painted majolica. However unlike majolica, Doulton Faience was decorated on a biscuit (once-fired) body. Pieces were then fired again after being decorated and fired a third time after glazing. Colours and glaze would expand and contract at different rates leading to the crazing that is now almost always associated with Doulton Faience. Decoration called for confident brushwork because of the porous nature of biscuit bodies as well as good knowledge of coloured oxides used (many of which changed completely in colour when fired). Because of this the artists (often accomplished in their own right) tended to specialise solely in Faience. The technique leaded itself to naturalistic representations (commonly of flowers and foliage) but also to figural Art Nouveau designs popular in the early 1900s. Output of Doulton Faience dwindled after c1910 and was discontinued during the early part of WWI.
Agnes EM Baigent worked at Doulton as a Faience artist from 1901 until 1910. She was known for her naturalistic floral painting as well as for her Art Nouveau designs.