Lot Essay
Christopher Dresser was known for his imaginative innovative style which brought Minton to the forefront of the Paris and London Exhibitions of the mid-19th century. Regarding the Paris Exhibition of 1867, Dresser commented, 'Although the grotesque is widely removed from the beautiful, it has rarely had an existence altogether separate from it; when combined with beauty it gives pleasure to the beholder. The beautiful appeals to our sense of refinement, or to our refined perceptions, but the grotesque addresses our sense of humour; it presents the comic element in art, powerfully as the keenest wit.' Cf. Joan Jones, Mintons, the First Two-Hundred Years of Design and Production, Shrewsbury, 1993, p. 94 & 95 for a similarly decorated vase formerly in the Collection of Thomas Goode.