Bust of Ernest Solvay

Bust of Ernest Solvay, bronze, and marble plinth incised with his name, manufactured in 1913 for the 50th anniversary of the industrial process that takes his name, likely made by Belgian sculptor Victor Rousseau.

This bust depicts the Belgian chemist and industrialist, Ernest Solvay, who in 1863 pioneered a new industrial process for manufacturing soda ash (sodum carbonate), vital for soap, glass, textile and paper industries. Solvay's method, still in use in the 21st century, generated very little waste and pollution, vastly improving envrionmental conditions around factories that adopted his method.

The bust was likely made by the Belgium sculptor Victor Rousseau, in 1913, to commemorate the anniversary of the invention of the Solvay process. The bust formerly belonged to Imperial Chemical Industry's Mond Division, which has its origins in the first Solvay factory outside of Belgium - established in 1872 at the unlikely site of a country estate in Winnington, Northwich, England, by a British and German business duo John Brunner and Ludwig Mond.

The bust is visually similar to a statue of Solvay by Victor Rousseau, that stands in front of the original Solvay factory in Brussels.