Pottery is one of the oldest decorative art forms, and Minton is one of its historical masters. For more than 250 years, the English company was a premier producer of porcelain and ceramic wares. Its factory was known for detailed and brightly colored Victorian tableware, including dinner plates and serving pieces.
Thomas Minton founded the Minton factory in 1793 in Stoke-upon-Trent, England. It initially made earthenware but introduced bone china in 1798. When Minton died in 1836, the company passed to his son, Herbert Minton. The younger Minton was a savvy businessman with an eye for design. He introduced glossy majolica earthenware to the factory’s repertoire and hired skilled artists and designers like Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, boosting the company’s reputation.
In 1851, Minton debuted its majolica at the Great Exhibition in London. It became a royal family favorite and was even used to tile the Royal Dairy at Windsor Home Park. Minton majolica was also displayed on the monumental Saint George and the dragon fountain at the 1862 London International Exhibition.
Colin Minton Campbell, a nephew of Herbert Minton, took over the family business in 1858. He led the company to the head of the 1870s English art pottery movement. In the 1890s, French porcelain artist Marc-Louis Solon helped modernize Minton with his Art Nouveau designs.
Minton ceased operating as an independent company when it merged with Royal Doulton Tableware Ltd. in 1968. It was the end of an era, but not the end of widespread appreciation for Minton ceramics.
In 1982, the ”English Majolica” exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum featured 75 Minton pieces. When the Metropolitan Museum of Art reopened its British Galleries in 2020, it included a display of three colorful Minton majolica bird sculptures. Minton pottery was also on display from September 2021 to January 2022, along with other English pottery, at the Bard Graduate Center’s ”Majolica Mania” exhibition.
On 1stDibs, find exquisite Minton serveware, decorative objects, wall decorations and more.
19th Century Pair of Sèvres Style Gilt Bronze Mounted Turquoise Porcelain Vases
Located in New York, NY
Beautifully hand painted with lovers to the front and a bouquet to the reverse and with figural ormolu-mounted handles. Date: 19th century Origin: French Dimension: 27 in. x 14 in.
Ormolu
Pair of Sevres Style Gilt and Polychrome Decorated Porcelain Two-Handled Urns
Located in New York, NY
Each of elongated urn form with satyr mask handles and a loose domed cover with a bud finial, decorated on the front side with a reserve painted with an 18th century courtship scene,...
Porcelain
Late 19th Century Pair of Vienna Style Porcelain Gilt and Cobalt-Blue Ground Vas
Located in New York, NY
A very fine pair of Vienna cobalt blue porcelain covered urns with male mask handles. Each covered urns and covers; cobalt blue ground; loop handles terminating at classical male mas...
Ormolu
19th Century Pair of Sèvres Style Ormolu-Mounted Cobalt Blue Porcelain Vases
Located in New York, NY
A very Fine pair of Sèvres style ormolu-mounted gilt bronze cobalt blue porcelain bases. Each with waisted neck decorated with gilt on cobalt blue and above a tapering ovoid body pa...
Ormolu
19th Century Pair of Sèvres Style Ormolu Mounted Cobalt Blue Porcelain Vases
Located in New York, NY
An exquisite pair of Sèvres style ormolu-mounted, cobalt blue, porcelain vases with lion mask handles, hand painted mythological scenes to the front. Date: circa 1880 Origin: Fre...
Ormolu
Blue Serves Pair of Jeweled Vases with Gilt Paint and Turquoise
By Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres
Located in New York, NY
Blue Serves Pair of Jeweled Vases with Gilt Paint and Turquoise embellishments throughout. Incredibly ornate with gold painted details throughout. Both vases contain genre scenes wi...
Gold, Bronze
Pair of French Sevres Style Bleu Céleste Porcelain Covered Urns, Early 20th Cent
Located in Madrid, ES
A refined pair of French Sevres style porcelain covered urns in the celebrated bleu céleste ground, dating from the early 20th century. Each urn is beautifully decorated with hand-p...
Ceramic
Pair of 19th Century Sevres Style Porcelain Gilt Bronze Mounted Covered Vases
By Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres
Located in New York, NY
The extraordinary pair of covered vases is in baluster form, each resting on a circular gilt bronze base adorned with a band of raised foliate motifs. The bases support porcelain soc...
Bronze
Pair of English 19th Century Turquoise Ground Painted Porcelain Urns by Minton
By Edouard Rischgitz, Minton
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A fine pair of English 19th century turquoise ground and parcel-gilt painted porcelain urn vases, urns by Minton. The tapered shaped urns raised on a slender stem with turquoise grou...
Porcelain
Pair of French Porcelain Gilt and Sky Blue Covered Urns, Sevres, circa 1860
Located in New York, NY
With adorned caryated figures as handles.
Porcelain
Pair of 19th Century French Sèvres Porcelain Urns with Ormolu Mounts
Located in Los Angeles, CA
An exceptional pair of 19th century French Sèvres porcelain urns, richly decorated with finely hand-painted mythological scenes framed within cobalt blue reserves and lavish gilt det...
Porcelain
Pair of 19th Century Sevres Porcelain Hand Painted Cobalt & Gilt Decorated Urns
Located in Germantown, MD
Pair Of 19th Century Sevres Porcelain Hand Painted Cobalt And Gilt Decorated Two-Handle Urns in good condition. Hand-painted different scenes on each side. No cracks or repairs. Just...
Metal
