Minton Ceramic Garden Seat

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Minton Ceramic Garden Seat

About the Item

This superb garden seat or garden stool is the work of the British manufacturer Minton. Its inventive facetted drum shape is decorated with flowers on a brown background. The large, burst flowers with golden buds reveal white petals with pinkish tips. Their green stems intertwine like decorative foliage. The upper part is dark blue with raised dots of the same color forming a pyramid pattern. The marine seat is openwork which creates a floral decoration giving an iconographic unity. Two fictitious yellow handles are present on both ends of the stool. The Minton Factory in Stoke-on-Trent The manufactory was founded in 1793 by Thomas Minton (1788-1836). He bought a piece of land in Stoke-on-Trent (south of Manchester) to build a small factory. This first production was initially focused on the production of earthenware with blue and white printed decoration, then a cream-coloured earthenware called "bone china" for tableware. This production was very successful throughout the 19th century. Thomas Minton integrated his sons into the company: Herbert and Thomas in 1817. It is Herbert who is entrusted with the management of the factory after the death of his father in 1836. Under his control, the manufactory experienced an unprecedented growth and its creations became the symbols of ceramics during the Victorian era. Herbert Minton surrounded himself with experienced employees who contributed with their exceptional know-how to the success of the compagny. His nephew, Colin Minton Campbell, took over in 1858. This garden seat takes place in the production of a renowned factory and illustrates once again the talent, inventiveness and technicality developed in Stoke-on-Trent during this period of Industrial emulation exacerbated by the unforgettable Universal Exhibitions. Witness to the fashions of its time, this stool echoes the productions of Massier, where the rose hip motif abounds in the most stylised forms.

Creator:
Minton (Manufacturer)
Dimensions:
Height: 10.63 in (27 cm)Diameter: 17.72 in (45 cm)Seat Height: 17.72 in (45 cm)
Materials and Techniques:
Majolica
Place of Origin:
England
Period:
19th Century
Date of Manufacture:
Second Half of the 19th Century
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Paris, FR
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU5081217706651

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Minton

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.