Maker: Minton
Period: Mid-Victorian
A beautiful Minton creamer of moulded rosebuds and leaves in the celebrated ‘Blind Earl pattern, named after the blind Earl of Coventry, who is said to have wanted a porcelain design that he could feel.
The origin story, that the sixth Earl of Coventry asked the Worcester Porcelain Company to make for him a three-dimensional design after being blinded in a hunting accident, is apocryphal. The Earl’s accident occurred in the 1770s, while the first Worcester dessert dishes with closed rosebuds and moulded leaves were made in 1768. Far more likely is that the Earl – who was also Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire – was so appreciative of the Worcester design that it became named after him.
This Minton version has the closed rosebuds, stems, and brightly coloured leaves of the Blind Earl pattern but on a delightful – and more technically challenging – miniature scale.
The base of the jug has a hand-painted Minton pattern number, A5673, that dates from around 1865.
Condition Perfect
Height: 5.8 cm
Width, spout across handle: 8 cm
Net weight: 73 g
Medium: Bone china (porcelain)
Origin: Stoke-on-Trent, England
