M. Leon Arnoux (1816-1902) was engaged in 1849 by Messrs Minton, and became thenceforth the art manager of the works. He improved the decoration of their porcelain and the whiteness of its body, but his chief claim to notice rests on his “majolica” and his imitation of the old Pallissy, or Henri II, ware. For 30 years nothing was more popular than Minton’s majolica, whether for ornamental ware, tiles or façades. Arnoux was followed by such artists as Jeanest, Lessore, Protat,[196] and in 1870 by Mons. M. L. Solon, whose special work—pâte-sur-pâte decoration—still holds the public taste and deserves to become classical. In this process white slip clay-paste is painted on to a dark clay body, and the varying thickness and transparency of the layers of paint produce an effect which differs completely from either plain enamelling or the high relief of jasper. At the same time it lends itself to the individual taste of the artist and can never become merely mechanical. When Herbert Minton died in 1858 his firm employed 1500 workpeople,[197] a number which has never been exceeded by any ornamental factory before or since. His two nephews, M. D. Hollins and Colin Minton Campbell (1827-1885)—the latter had become a partner in 1849—carried on the business jointly under the title of Herbert Minton & Co. for china and earthenware, and Minton, Hollins & Co. for tiles. In 1863 they were joined for a few years by another partner, Robert Minton Taylor, and on his leaving in 1868 Hollins and Campbell divided the business between them. Hollins took the tiles, and Campbell the main factory. One of the conditions of the division was that Campbell had to take over the stock of moulds at a valuation. It is said that they were valued at the unexpected and extraordinary figure of £30,000, the compulsory payment of which dissolved the friendship as well as the partnership of the two cousins. It may have been the recollection of this heavy grievance that induced Campbell in 1871 to start the Campbell Tile Co., a serious competitor for Minton, Hollins & Co., and the progenitor of many lawsuits. Colin Minton Campbell was High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1869, Chairman of the North Stafford Railway, and Conservative Member of Parliament for North Staffs 1874-80. He died in 1885, and his statue stands in the High Street of Stoke. The Minton Works are now the property of his son John Campbell of Woodseat, but he takes no share in the business, which is managed by Mr J. Robinson. Another John Campbell owns and manages the Campbell Tile Co. in Stoke. As for the rival nephew and potter, Michael Hollins, he built in 1870 the modern factory of Minton, Hollins & Co. in Shelton Old Road, Stoke, and continued till his death in 1898 to make the best encaustic and glazed dust tiles. The factory, employing some 400 workers, is now carried on, but under far keener competition, by his grandson, Michael Daintry Hollins.