1864, IMPRESSED UPPERCASE MARKS, YEAR CYPHERS AND REGISTRATION LOZENGES FOR 30 APRIL 1858

These vases combine a typical Chinese form and ground colour with the 'fernmania' or pteridomania popular in the Victorian era. The rope-tied form without bas-relief detail was first shown at the London International Exhibition of 1862. For a nearly identical example to the present pair, see J. Jones, Minton, The First Two Hundred Years of Design & Production, Shrewsbury, 1993, p. 188. This example was subsequently sold as part of the Masterpieces of Minton sale at Bonhams, London, 23 July 2002, lot 249. In the Jones entry the author speculates that this type of applied relief decoration, produced prior to Louis Solon's arrival at the manufactory, represents the birth of the pâte-sur-pâte technique at Minton.

See the similar pair sold Christie's New York, 17-18 October 2012, lot 534. Also see P. Atterbury and M. Batkin, The Dictionary of Minton, Suffolk, 1990, p. 103 for a page from J.B Waring's Masterpieces at the International Exhibition 1862 showing this form decorated in the Japanese taste with butterflies among foliage.