During the second quarter of the 19th century, there was an explosion of interest in matters botanical and horticultural in Europe. The discovery of the process of plant reproduction by the botanist Robert Brown inspired English gardeners to construct greenhouses and fill them with a wonderful array of rare specimens. Minton & Company, one of Britain’s leading ceramic factories, created majolica urns, cachepots, garden seats and other fantasy pieces decorated in vivid contrasting colors with exotic flora and fauna, to enhance these displays. The Great London Exhibition of 1851 was the initial showcase for these innovative designs of Minton’s. It was a smashing success, followed by showings at the New York Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1853 and the 1855 Paris Exhibition.

These Victorian majolica examples had their roots in Italian Renaissance maiolica, the tin glazed pottery imported into Italy during the 12th to 17th centuries from the island of Majorca, in the Mediterranean Sea. In the mid-16th century, a French ceramist, Bernard Palissy (1510 to 1590) developed brilliant metal oxides in clay as his medium to create unusual pottery decorated with creatures and plants from the natural world. Unfortunately, his genius died with him in prison, where he was incarcerated for his religious beliefs during the Protestant Reformation. It was not until the 1840′s that another Frenchman, Charles-Jean Avisseau, (1795 to 1861), discovered the secrets of Palissy’s ceramics. Avisseau’s incredible creations inspired a generation of ceramists throughout Europe. His fanciful pottery featuring reptiles, fish, shells and plants are abundantly illustrated in Palissy Wares by Marshall P. Katz and Robert Lehn. The 1985 excavation of the Louvre in Paris turned up the remains of Bernard Palissy’s workshop, opening the gates to further scholarship and investigation into the methods of this 16th century genius.

Majolica was made of water absorbent simple earthenware made impenetrable by using glazes of lead sulfides with additives introduced for color. Slip casting was most often used with mold makers providing perhaps the most skilled labor. Simple jugs required two molds for the body and handle while more complex pieces required a separate mold for each body piece. The soft blend of brilliant colors is the result of adding metal oxides to lead sulfides and firing at very high temperatures.

The commercial success of Minton’s majolica in the 19th century encouraged others and fueled the production of a prolific variety of forms and color schemes. The English factories of Wedgwood, George Jones, Joseph Holdcroft and W. T. Copeland, among others, created cachepots, umbrella stands, urns and vases in brilliant tones for the gardens and conservatories of the expanding middle classes. In addition, the majolica styles lent themselves to the creation of a host of useful tablewares such as cheese bells, oyster plates, strawberry and tea services. The American Griffin, Smith & Company (Etruscan) pottery in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, along with firms in France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Portugal, supplied majolica to the ever-demanding public. The passion for majolica lasted until the beginning of the 20th century when its appeal was cooled by the evolving styles of the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau movements.

During the 1980′s, three museum exhibitions ignited collector interest, which presently is once again at a fever pitch. The most comprehensive volume on the subject is Majolica: A Complete History and Illustrated Survey by Marilyn G. Karmason with Joan B. Stacke, published by Harry N. Abrams. It’s very readable and filled with excellent photographs.

Reference note by p4A.com Contributing Editor Bob Goldberg.

Located near Dijon, France, the Longchamp factory specialized in oyster plates, asparagus servers and wall plaques, all decorated with lemons, apples, grapes and other fruits.

For further reference, see “Majolica: A Complete History & Illustrated Survey”, by Marilyn G. Karmason with Joan B. Stacke, published by Harry N. Abrams Inc., New York, 1989.

Thomas Minton was born in 1765. By 1793 he had established his own engraving business and was considered to be a ‘Master Engraver’ producing patterns for the Caughley Works, Spode and Copeland among others. With ambitions beyond his success as an engraver, Minton entered the pottery manufacturing business with two partners, Mssrs. Poulson and Pownall, in 1793. The factory and its ovens were built from the ground up and consequently the first products, blue printed wares and cream colored earthenware, reached the marketplace three years later. Bone China production began circa 1800 and although initially profitable, ended in 1816, by which time Minton’s two partners had died. This occasioned a reorganization of the firm and two of Thomas’s ten children were made partners in the firm. One left shortly thereafter and the remaining son in the business, Herbert Minton, who had been barely 14 when he first began working for his father in 1806, began to assume more responsibility and to exercise more and more influence.

“He (Herbert Minton) was ever at the works before any one else in the morning, and frequently at 5 o’clock. In the depth of winter, or however inclement the weather, at all seasons of the year, nothing hindered his early commencement of the duties of the day. Lucifer-matches were unknown in those days, and he, therefore, usually brought a tinder-box in his pocket, the old flint and steel affair. He thus procured a light and made himself a fire. Then he would proceed to examine the stock in the warehouses, that he might be enabled to order what was necessary to replenish it, and thus keep the printers and others constantly at work. He also devoted a certain portion of his time to the mixing room, in order to keep up the supply of bodies, glazes, &c. Then he would proceed to the counting-house where I was an assistant-cashier under his special superintendence. To convey an idea of his particular nicety and accuracy in this department of his labours, I may relate the fact that, on a certain Saturday evening, after examining my cash account, Mr. Herbert told me that I was one halfpenny short in my balance. He was aware of my usual accuracy, and was surprised even at this trifling mistake. I opened my cash-box for further examination, when to my good fortune, I discovered the missing halfpenny within it standing on its edge. This rectified the supposed mistake, and afforded us both a hearty laugh” (Jewitt, The Ceramic Art of Great Britain, Volume 11, page 191)

It was Herbert who reintroduced the manufacture of Bone China circa 1823 and it is he who holds the same place in the annals of the Minton firm’s history and for that matter, the history of British ceramic production as Josiah Wedgwood did for his firm and those firms which emulated his wares. Herbert Minton’s credits include: the revival of a process for making medieval tiles; the hiring of Leon Arnoux, which led to the manufacturing of Majolica (from Italian Maiolica) and its award-winning introduction at the Great Exhibition in 1851; White Parian or Statuary Ware, as introduced in 1842 with colored Parian following on in 1848. Herbert Minton died in 1858 and the firm was taken over by his nephew, Colin Minton Campbell, who had joined the firm in 1845.

In 1871, Campbell established as a separate entity, the Minton Art Pottery Studio in Kensington Gore, superintended by William Stephen Coleman, who had made a name for himself in painting original designs on porcelain. In addition to employing 50 or 60 women who were students at the National Art Training School in Kensington, many well-known artists such as Christopher Dresser, Henry Stacy Marks, William Mussill, George Wooliscroft Rhead, Edmond George Reuter, John Moyr Smith and William Wise were either employed by, or did piece work, for the studio. The studio initially did well financially under Coleman’s brief two-year leadership. After he withdrew as manager to concentrate on design and painting, the studio’s fortunes declined until it was destroyed by an accidental fire in 1875 and never reconstructed.

Louis Marc Emmanuel Solon fled France and the Franco-Prussian war in 1870, bringing with him from Sevres the technique of pate-sur-pate. Using the Minton parian body as a base upon which the pate-sur-pate slip was applied rather than the more delicate, and thus more restrictive, Sevres porcelain body, Solon was able to produce pate-sur-pate in a significantly wider range of colors and shapes at Minton than at Sevres. Today, vases, plaques and miscellaneous other shapes, decorated in pate-sur-pate by Solon and his most accomplished apprentice, Alboin Birks, are the most aesthetically appealing and most expensive (with the exception of a Majolica Peacock to be discussed below) products of the Minton factory. Louis Solon left the factory in 1904 and died in 1914.

Colin Minton Campbell died in 1885. Without Colin’s leadership sales fell dramatically under his son, John Fitzgerald Campbell. In 1898, he called on his cousin John Campbell to assist him and the company’s sales increased immediately. After an abortive attempt to sell the now liquid company at auction in mid 1901, (bidders were unwilling to accept the value which the company had mandated for its inventory), John Campbell decided to follow the then current trend toward Art Nouveau with Louis Solon’s son, Leon, as the principle artist. Under his supervision, Secessionist Ware became the premier output for the company and is highly sought today. The Art Nouveau movement ended with the onset of WW1 in 1914.

During the Art Deco period of the 1920′s and 1930′s, Reginald Haggar was the foremost name at Minton, serving as Art Director, along with Walter Woodman and John Wadsworth, each contributing his own style of design and decoration.

Minton was purchased by Royal Doulton in 1968 and closed the corporate headquarters, Minton House, in 1991. Burdened with enormous debt, Royal Doulton, in the face of a tremendous hue and cry against it, decided to sell some 500 choice pieces out of the Minton Museum and consigned the pieces to Bonham’s to sell on July 23, 2002. The sale brought UKP 832,604 or $1,313,183 (including buyer’s premium, excluding VAT) with the star of the sale, lot #179, a Majolica model of a peacock selling for UKP 117,750 or $185,715. The catalog entry reads as follows:

“An Important Lifesize Minton Majolica Model of a Peacock, modeled by Paul Comolera in 1873, signed, the magnificent bird perched on a tall rocky plinth around which coils a fruity and blossoming branch, two colourful toadstools growing below, his distinctive tailfeathers picked out in brown, ochre, green and deep cobalt blue, his neck also blue, 154cm., P. Comolera moulded into base (crest broken and restuck, restoration to a few tips of tail feathers and to interior of lower section) L100,000 – L120,000

“Examples of his magnificent feat of potting are rare. The most well known example was being transported to the Sydney exhibition in 1978 when the ship was wrecked. A few days later, the crated bird was found floating in the sea and was salvaged in a manner suitable to an animal considered to be a symbol of resurrection and survival. It is now on display at the Flagstaff Hill Museum, Warnambool, Australia and is illustrated by Joan Jones, page 141. Another well-known example adorns the Peacock Inn at Rowlesley in Derbyshire”.

It is interesting to note that the aforementioned example which “adorns the Peacock Inn” was offered two years later at Sotheby’s in London as Lot #149 on July 15, 2004.” It was estimated at UKP 85,000 – 90,000 and did not sell.

Marks and the dating of marks on Minton pottery and porcelain are too numerous to list here. It is known, however, that most pieces were not marked during the tenure of Thomas Minton (1793 to 1836) causing difficulty in ascribing wares manufactured during this period to the Minton factory.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Minton – The First Two Hundred Years of Design and Production, Joan Jones, Swan Hill Press, UK, 1993;

The Dictionary of Minton, Paul Atterbury and Maureen Batkin, Antique Collectors’ Club Ltd., Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1990;

Minton Pottery and Porcelain of the First Period, Geoffrey A. Godden, Herbert Jenkins, London, 1968;

The Ceramic Art of Great Britain, Volumes I & II, Llewellynn Jewitt, Virtue and Company, London, 1878;

Masterpieces of Minton – Selected Items from the Minton Museum Collection, Bonhams Auctioneers and Valuers, London, sale of Tuesday 23 July, 2002;

Glass and Ceramics, Sotheby’s, London, sale of Thursday July 15, 2004.

p4A Reference note composed by Paul Lauer.