DATE CYPHERS FOR JUNE 1863, IMPRESSED UPPERCASE MARK AND CYPHERS, REGISTRY DIAMOND PAD MARK FOR 9 APRIL 1861

The rope-tied form without bas-relief detail was first shown at the London International Exhibition of 1862. See the engraving in The Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue of that year, p. 8. For a nearly identical example to the present pair, see J. Jones, Minton, The First Two Hundred Years of Design & Production, Shrewsbury, 1993, p. 188. This example was subsequently sold as part of a selection of items offered by the Mintons Museum at Bonhams, London, 23 July 2002, lot 249. In the Jones entry the author speculates that this type of applied relief decoration, produced prior to Louis Solon's arrival at the manufactory, represents the naissance of the pâte-sur-pâte technique at Minton.

Also see P. Atterbury and M. Batkin, The Dictionary of Minton, Suffolk, 1990, p. 103 for a page from J.B Waring's Masterpieces at the International Exhibition 1862 showing this form decorated in the Japanese taste with butterflies among foliage.