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.
George Jones Majolica Large 'Rose Basket' in Cobalt Blue, circa 1872
By George Jones
Located in Banner Elk, NC
George Jones Majolica large 'Rose Basket' 9.5-in wide in cobalt blue, circa 1872. Impressed British Registry mark stamp to reverse for 17 February 1872. George Jones pattern number '...
Majolica
A George Jones Majolica Tureen with Recumbent Doe, English, ca. 1875
By George Jones
Located in Banner Elk, NC
A George Jones Majolica Game Pie Tureen, the cover formed as a domed rustic mound with green glazed ferns and grasses, surmounted by a naturalistically molded and glazed recumbent do...
Majolica
George Jones Majolica Cobalt-Ground 'Doves Jardinière' English, circa 1870
By George Jones
Located in Banner Elk, NC
A George Jones Majolica Centerpiece Jardinière, the cobalt glazed shaped bowl supported by two naturalistically molded and glazed doves, with ribbon-wrapped garlands and trimmed in yellow ocher, on a rustic mound with green-glazed leaves and ferns forming the base; the reverse with molded and applied blue cartouche pad, 'GJ' monogram, and 'STOKE-on-TRENT.' Design number 2225 for the entry, 'Dove Jardinière,' as recorded in the George Jones Majolica Pattern Books preserved in the Victorian and Albert Museum, Wedgwood Collection, and reprinted in V. Bergesen.* The design is documented in the Karmason Library of the Majolica International Society, Number KL001257 with the designation 'Rare.' We have been among the preeminent specialists in fine English majolica for over thirty years. BOOK REFERENCES: -Victoria Bergesen, MAJOLICA: British, Continental, and American Wares. London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1989, p. 202 (George Jones Majolica Pattern Numbers, pp. 201-205). -Susan Weber et al., MAJOLICA MANIA: Transatlantic Pottery in England and the United States 1850--1915. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2020, Volume Two, p. 246, FIG. 18.21. -CHRISTIE'S London, 19TH CENTURY BRITISH AND CONTINENTAL CERAMICS...
Majolica
Wedgwood Majolica Cauliflower Pattern Compote Pedestal Bowl, English, 1879
By Wedgwood
Located in Banner Elk, NC
Wedgwood Majolica cauliflower pattern compote pedestal bowl, English, 1879, with impressed Wedgwood mark and three letter date code for 1879. For...
Majolica
Minton Majolica Mushroom Tazza with Three-Frog Base, English, Dated 1868
By Minton
Located in Banner Elk, NC
Minton Majolica Taza, molded as an inverted mushroom, the bowl interior glazed in orange, with three naturalistically modeled and glazed frogs around the stem,...
Majolica
Wedgwood Majolica Dish with Strawberries on a Cobalt Ground, 1870, 12 Available
By Wedgwood
Located in Banner Elk, NC
Wedgwood Majolica Strawberry dish, naturalistically relief-modeled with strawberries, leaves, and blossoms, the lip with strawberry leaves and...
Majolica
Victorian Majolica Jardiniere Renaissance Minton, circa 1876
By Minton
Located in Austin, TX
Classical style for this large Majolica jardiniere or table centre signed Minton and dated 1876 cherubs handles and masks on each side of Renaissance Revival. On the middle of 19th c...
Majolica, Ceramic
Large Majolica Thistle Jardinière Onnaing, circa 1880
By Onnaing
Located in Austin, TX
Large Majolica thistle jardinière Onnaing, circa 1880. Height / 9.5 inches. Diameter / 13 inches.
Ceramic
French Majolica Barbotine Cache Pot With Horse Head Handles
Located in Houston, TX
A striking example of French barbotine majolica, this richly modeled cache pot dates to the late 19th century and showcases the exuberant naturalism and sculptural detail characteris...
Majolica
Majolica Palissy Vase Chalice Thomas Sergent, circa 1880
By Thomas Sergent
Located in Austin, TX
19th century Palissy chalice vase signed Thomas Sergent, the feets are stylized with seaweeds in a Renaissance style. School of Paris. The School of Paris was composed by makers as Victor Barbizet, Francois Maurice, Thomas Sergent, Georges Pull...
Majolica, Ceramic
Mid-Century Modern Cobalt Glazed Ceramic Antique Cache Pot, 1900s
By Non-Standard Furniture and Lighting
Located in Milano, IT
Cache pot in ceramica smaltata in blu cobalto con anse a volute, retto da tre piedi a foggia di artiglio. Decoro policromo applicato a tralci di rose.
Ceramic
Majolica ceramic planter, France, 19th century
Located in Auribeau sur Siagne, FR
A majolica ceramic cachepot, France, 19th century, richly decorated in a style typical of the decorative production of the period. This piece is distinguished by its flowing, sculptu...
Ceramic
