Period: Mid-Victorian
Maker: Minton
A Minton cup and saucer from 1866, exquisitely decorated with panels of British birds and butterflies. Each hand-painted picture is framed by acid-etched gilt bands. Among the birds one can easily recognise a greenfinch, great tit and bullfinch.
The saucer is impressed with MINTON, the date code for October 1866, and a tally mark. The pattern number, A7458, is painted on the bottom of both cup and saucer.
The ‘Minton Acid Gold’ process had been patented in 1863 by employee James Leigh Hughes. Based on a method for glass etching, it enabled moulding in gilt relief. Minton used acid gilding to ornament its richest wares.
Condition In general, excellent. There is a small patch of stained glaze crazing in the bottom of the cup (see photograph).
Saucer diameter: 13.7cm
Cup height: 6.7cm; width with handle: 9.6cm
Net weight: 221g
Medium: Bone china (porcelain)
Origin: Stoke, Staffordshire Potteries, England
