A MINTONS MAJOLICA JARDINIÈRE IN THE FORM OF A NAUTILUS SHELL RESTING ON CORAL AND ROCKS, the shell with a whitish glaze on the exterior, splashed with manganese beads, the striations enriched with stripes of ochre and manganese on the reverse, the interior glazed in turquoise within an ochre rim, the shell resting on a stem of rocks enclosed by a dark-pink coral formation, its multitude of interlaced branches meandering around the sides of the shell, the coral issuing from a rockwork base further moulded with green seaweed, on a circular foot glazed in mottled green and brown (crack to rim and to rockwork on the reverse, further small cracks to body, minor wear to paint on coral), impressed marks and model number 966, date code for 1873