The Home Beautiful: A Minton Tile, 1880

Tile
Minton, 1880
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Made circa 1880 by Minton, this earthenware tile was stenciled with a design before being glazed and fired.  The stenciled pattern depicts four scenes: a sunrise, a balloon, a toad and a rooster.

It was made at Minton’s Stoke-on-Trent, England, Factory and was part of a large set of tiles depicting similarly bucolic scenes predominantly in browns and blues.  

Her Majesty's Furniture: The Putti Cabinet, 1855

Cabinet
Jackson and Graham, 1855
This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This handsome cabinet was not made for domestic use, but rather as a sample of the ingenuity and talents of the craftsmen and designers of the London furnishing firm of Jackson and Graham. Made in the Eighteenth Century style, the cabinet was presented at the Paris International Exhibition of 1855 where it was heralded for its fineness.

The 1855 catalog notes of the cabinet that “the interior is finished with as much care as the exterior, being of satin-wood inlaid with tulip-wood and the fronts of the drawers inlaid with ivory and panelled, the panels being fitted with finely-chased and gilded metal-work.”  

The stars of the show are the three porcelain mounts depicting putti representing the arts.  These panels are mounted in gilt moldings which echo the shape of the central mirror.

The piece was designed by Alexandre Prignot (born 1822) who had been the chief designer for Jackson and Graham from 1849 to 1855. This piece was one of his final triumphs. The ceramics were supplied by Minton & Co. while Elkington & Co, offered the electroplated mounts. Cope and Collinson provided the casters.

The marquetry, giltwood, and inlays of marble and porcelain drew much positive attention and praise at the 1855 exhibition as did the mirror which surmounted the cabinet. 

To Serve and Project: The Minton Phoenix Dish, c. 1825

Click Image for Original Size Picture
Dish, c. 1825
Minton &  Co.
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Made at Minton’s Stoke-on-Trent factory, this porcelain plate is painted in enamel colors and adorned with fine gilding. Dating to about 1825, this oval plate features a high, shaped rim which frames the oval panel in the center which depicts flowering plants.

Two birds, based on Chinese paintings, adorn the plate. I’d guess they were meant to represent the phoenix. The sides come alive with panels of cloud ornament while the high rim is decorated with rosettes and a pattern of dots on a blue ground. Eight floral scenes punctuate the rim.

The 1820s, especially in England, saw a stylistic turn, a stylized nod to Asian themes, which found a comfortable spot in the home. Such Asian-inspired motifs adorned everything from porcelain to furnishings and offered an interesting counterpoint to the heavier, darker pieces which had long been in fashion. 

The Home Beautiful: The Well Spring Vase, 1847-1865

The Well Spring
Richard Redgrave
Minton, 1865
The Victoria & Albert Museum

The design of this vase, dating to 1847, was known as the “Well Spring” and was developed by painter and writer Richard Redgrave (1804-1888). If the name is familiar to regular readers of this site, it’s because I’ve often mentioned Sir Richard in his role of Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures, under Queen Victoria.

Redgrave originally produced the design in 1847 for Felix Summerly's Art Manufactures. This design is a great example of the early Victorian decorating ideal of the decoration of an object describing its function.

So, how did this vase and its design come about? The design, and others like it, was promoted by Henry Cole (1808-1882)—a proponent of the philosophy of form echoing function. Cole was approached by the Society of Arts in 1845 about a prize to be given for designs for a tea service. Cole decided to enter the contest, but preferred to use a pseudonym—Felix Summerly. Summerly/Cole won a silver medal in the 1846 competition and his design was produced by Minton. But, Cole yearned for more and personally wanted to “promote public taste.” To this end, he decided to start his own manufacture wherein well-known painters, such as Richard Redgrave, could produce designs specific to certain objects. Thusly, Cole founded in 1847 “Summerly's Art Manufactures.” The concern produced these sorts of objects for three years, but by 1851 Cole was distracted by the Great Exhibition and let other manufacturers, especially Stoke-on-Trent’s Minton, produce the designs which had originally created for Summerly’s.

However, before the end of Summerly’s, Cole enjoyed an association with many fine artists. The “Well Spring” was Richard Redgrave's first design for the Summerly scheme. Redgrave submitted the design to Henry Cole in January of 1847. The original design of a handled vessel, the handles shaped like leaves, was described by Redgrave as “the Water Jug.” The two-handled porcelain vase was adorned with scenes of water plants and water lilies in a garland.

While this example is clearly taken from Redgrave’s original design for the vase, the object itself was not made by Summerly’s, but, later by Minton in 1865. It is inscribed underneath: “MINTON & CO Modelled in 1847 Manufactured in 1865.” 

To Serve and Project: The Minton Phoenix Dish, c. 1825

Click Image for Original Size Picture
Dish, c. 1825
Minton &  Co.
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Made at Minton’s Stoke-on-Trent factory, this porcelain plate is painted in enamel colors and adorned with fine gilding. Dating to about 1825, this oval plate features a high, shaped rim which frames the oval panel in the center which depicts flowering plants.

Two birds, based on Chinese paintings, adorn the plate. I’d guess they were meant to represent the phoenix. The sides come alive with panels of cloud ornament while the high rim is decorated with rosettes and a pattern of dots on a blue ground. Eight floral scenes punctuate the rim.

The 1820s, especially in England, saw a stylistic turn, a stylized nod to Asian themes, which found a comfortable spot in the home. Such Asian-inspired motifs adorned everything from porcelain to furnishings and offered an interesting counterpoint to the heavier, darker pieces which had long been in fashion. 

To Serve and Project: A Minton Tureen, 1866

Click image for all the dead-rabbity goodness.
Minton Stew Tureen
England, 1866
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Who doesn’t want a bas relief dead rabbit on their soup tureen? Well, maybe I don’t. But, even though this Minton tureen from 1866 is adorned with the corpses of game, it’s still rather attractive.

This dish, cover and its liner feature a handsomely molded, and rather realistic, group of game, oak leaves, ferns, and a crow arranged in a representation of a wicker basket. Glazed in deep greens and browns, the piece is afforded additional realism from the majolica glazes. Clearly, the tureen was made to serve some sort of disturbing game stew. It’s the sort of thing that when brought to the table, the diners would be able to look at it and know that they were about to get a tasty, hot, wet dinner of rabbit and duckies. This was a favorite thing to do for Victorian designers who thought it amusing to represent the function of an object in its decoration.

The tureen is the work of Léon Arnoux (1816-1902), the art director at the Minton Ceramic Factory of Stoke-on-Trent, England. Amoux had a preoccupation with Renaissance pottery and Sixteenth-century tin-glazed painted Italian maiolica and based his work on these past designs. In 1849, this interest led to the debut of “Palissy Ware” based on the designs of Bernard Palissy and with a nod to the Italian Renaissance style. Later, by the 1880s, these Nineteenth Century recreations became known as “majolica ware”—a term which sticks to this day in regard to all such wares whether made by Minton or not.

The reverse of the liner is marked: “Minton 86 8” and displays a date symbol for 1866.

Her Majesty's Furniture: The Putti Cabinet, 1855

Cabinet
Jackson and Graham, 1855
This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This handsome cabinet was not made for domestic use, but rather as a sample of the ingenuity and talents of the craftsmen and designers of the London furnishing firm of Jackson and Graham. Made in the Eighteenth Century style, the cabinet was presented at the Paris International Exhibition of 1855 where it was heralded for its fineness.

The 1855 catalog notes of the cabinet that “the interior is finished with as much care as the exterior, being of satin-wood inlaid with tulip-wood and the fronts of the drawers inlaid with ivory and panelled, the panels being fitted with finely-chased and gilded metal-work.”  

The stars of the show are the three porcelain mounts depicting putti representing the arts.  These panels are mounted in gilt moldings which echo the shape of the central mirror.

The piece was designed by Alexandre Prignot (born 1822) who had been the chief designer for Jackson and Graham from 1849 to 1855. This piece was one of his final triumphs. The ceramics were supplied by Minton & Co. while Elkington & Co, offered the electroplated mounts. Cope and Collinson provided the casters.

The marquetry, giltwood, and inlays of marble and porcelain drew much positive attention and praise at the 1855 exhibition as did the mirror which surmounted the cabinet. 

The Home Beautiful: A Minton Tile, 1880

Tile
Minton, 1880
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Made circa 1880 by Minton, this earthenware tile was stenciled with a design before being glazed and fired.  The stenciled pattern depicts four scenes: a sunrise, a balloon, a toad and a rooster. 

It was made at Minton’s Stoke-on-Trent, England, Factory and was part of a large set of tiles depicting similarly bucolic scenes predominantly in browns and blues. 

Painting of the Day: The Summer Plaque, 1860

Click on Image to Enlarge
Summer
After Lancret
Minton
Stoke on Trent, c, 1860
The Victoria & Albert Museum

A plaque of bone china, this object has been painted with enamels to represent a traditional and easily-recognized summer scene. Simply entitled “Summer,” the oblong plaque has been mounted in a brass frame. The scene depicts two reapers and a woman on the edge of a cornfield. The group is fascinated by a covey of partridge chicks.

This decorative item was meant to be displayed on a sideboard, piano, table or mantel—resting on a matching decorative stand. However, it’s also fitted to be hung on a wall. It was made c. 1860 by Minton and Company of Stoke-on-Trent, England. It’s one of a pair with scenes after a composition by Nicolas Lancret. 

The Home Beautiful: The Minton Prometheus Vase, 1867

The Prometheus Vase
Minton, 1867
This and all related images from:
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This rather substantial vase and cover were made specifically for the Paris International Exhibition of 1867 to demonstrate the technical and artistic superiority of their makers, Minton & Co. of Stoke-on-Trent.  Such an ambitious vase would have been made for such an exhibition as purchasing it would have been rather impossible for the average household.  Only museums and the wealthiest collectors could have afforded such a purchase, or, even had the room to display it.

This vase is actually one of a gigantic pair.  Each was painted with a different scene. Both were purchased by the V&A. 

The modeler of this vase was Victor Simyan (sometimes spelt Simian, and yes, I did just ook like a monkey when I typed this).  Simian was a French sculptor who moved to Britain in about 1860. The painter was a Thomas Allen who studied at the Stoke-on-Trent School of Design from 1849 and joined Minton's, staying there until 1875. 

Both vases were decorated in an imitation of maiolica, though the base is decorated with snakes in the manner of the 16th century French ceramicist, Bernard Palissy. According to the V&A, "The scenes on the bowl of the vase are taken from prints after works by the Rubens, The Calydonaian Boar Hunt, of which the original painting is now lost, and a second Boar Hunt, now in Marseilles. This vase and its companion took their name however from the cover, where Prometheus is having removed by an eagle, a punishment he was set by Zeus for stealing fire from the gods and bringing it back to earth."

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: The Minton Queen Victoria Plaque, 1855

The Victoria and Albert Museum

In 1855, Thomas Kirby (1821-1890) painted this earthenware plate in enamel colors to replicate the style of Italian Renaissance maiolica. He has depicted traditional Renaissance grotesques around a profile bust of Queen Victoria.

That same year, the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) was collecting maiolica from the Renaissance and purposefully purchased this then-contemporary piece by the Stoke-on-Trent (Staffordshire) artist to show the influence of the Italian Renaissance style on ceramics of the day.

Minton, during the Nineteenth Century, produced a wide range of wares inspired by Italian Renaissance painted tin-glazed earthenwares. These pieces were not copies of maiolica, but rather an homage to them with specifically Nineteenth Century themes.

One of a pair, this plaque was proudly displayed by Minton at the Paris Exhibition of 1855. The second plaque depicted the Empress Eugénie. It is now in the Swiss Cottage, Osborne House, Isle of Wight.

Thomas Kirby was employed by Mintons from 1841 until his death. He is thought to have painted the first piece of majolica produced by the firm.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: The “Assiette Montée” Centerpiece, 1851

Centerpiece
Made for Minton, 1851
The Victoria & Albert Museum

A magnificently tiered centerpiece, this work by Minton was designed for a dessert service in the style which the famed manufacturer called an “assiette montée.” It served a dual purpose, intended both as a table ornament and for serving sweetmeats or fruit.


Designed for Minton by figure-modeler Pierre-Emile Jeannest (1813-1857), this is one of his finest works. Jeannest was the son of a French bronzier, was also a pupil of Delaroche, and worked for Minton for several years between about 1848 and 1854. The piece was painted by Thomas Kirkby (1824-1890) who was Minton’s premier painter for over 50 years.

The centerpiece is part of a 116-piece dessert service shown by Minton at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and was later displayed by Queen Mary at Marlborough House who admired it because of its “successful turquoise colour” and because it was “the highest state of English ceramic manufacture.”

Years before Queen Mary’s admiration of the piece, Queen Victoria had been so struck by the appearance of the entire service when she attended the preview of the Great Exhibition that she and Prince Albert immediately purchased it. Later, Queen Victoria presented portions of the set to the Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria (r. 1848-1916) and his consort, the Empress Elisabeth.

The centerpiece is exceptional in its combination of glazed and decorated bone china with unglazed Parian figures. The judges at the Great Exhibition lauded its “original design, high degree of beauty and harmony of effect” as well as its “bleu celeste” (turquoise colour).