Shape Number: 1472
Size: 23.7 × 23.1 × 7.4 cm
Made circa 1875.

The flattened shell or fan shape is set on an integral fretwork stand in the Chinese manner, enameled in dark brown to resemble gilt-wood. The pale, mauve-grey ground of the body is decorated in the pâte-sur-pâte technique with a vase of lotus flowers on one side and chrysanthemums on the other. The neck is painted with a mauve, dark brown and gilt fretwork design resembling Chinese cloisonné enamel decoration.
Signed C. TOFT, who had been working at the Minton factory perfecting the intricate technique of Saint-Porchaire wares before working with Solon on pâte-sur-pâte production. He was a highly respected designer and modeller at Minton, who, according to a fellow modeller ‘was entrusted with all the potting that required special skill or care’. A craftsman of singular ability, Toft is known to have produced a range of vases, many of them decorated with an Islamic aesthetic.

Another Persian bottle with Cloisonné style decoration which design can be contributed to Christopher Dresser