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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2010
Earthenware, moulded and decorated with ‘Majolica’ glazes and blue enamel. Mark: impressed year cypher. Height of ewer 75 cm, length of basin 62.50cm. C.40–1972.
Minton's ‘Majolica’ was developed at the end of the 1840s by Leon Arnoux, who served as the firm's Art Director from 1849 to 1892. Unlike Italian maiolica, which was tin-glazed earthenware with painted decoration, ‘Majolica’ was earthenware decorated with coloured lead glazes. First shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851, it was an immediate success, appealing to the Victorians’ love of boldly modelled forms and vivid colouring. It was also extremely versatile, being as suitable for garden ornaments as it was for tablewares and figures.
The form of this massive ewer and basin, designed by Pierre Emile Jeannest (1813–57), reflects the widespread enthusiasm for Renaissance art during the mid-nineteenth century. The Great Exhibition had encouraged the manufacture of grandiose ornamental ceramics in revival styles, and Minton exhibited an elaborately painted ewer and basin of similar design at the London International Exhibition of 1862.
Many other English factories introduced versions of majolica, notably Wedgwood and George Jones, and it was also made on the Continent and in the United States.
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