The History of Minton China
England was already the world’s premier pottery manufacturing country in 1793 when Thomas Minton opened his company in Stoke-on-Trent. Minton, a trained artist, engraver and designer, used his skills to create bone china in 1799. At Thomas’s death in 1836, his son Herbert led the company, creating award-winning designs that included encaustic tiles (decorative relief tiles), Majolica ware (wares made with bright gloss glaze), and Parian statuary.
Influence of Classic Design
Herbert Minton studied classic designs, including Gothic design and the Greek white marble art statuary used traditionally on the Isle of Paros. Minton became a prestigious name in the industry when his company’s designs won the Bronze Council Medal at the “Great Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations” held in London in 1851.
Minton Campbell and the Art Pottery Movement
Colin Minton Campbell, who took over the family’s administration of the factory in 1858, became a leader of the English Art Pottery Movement of the 1870s. The Acid Gold Process that he pioneered in 1863 is still in use.
Louis Solon and Art Nouveau Movement
Sculpture Louis Solon came to Minton in 1870 and created museum-quality pieces by using a process called pate-sur-pate. Solon created cutting-edge designs as part of the Art Nouveau movement in the late 1890s.
Company designers created highly popular china patterns, including John Wadsworth’s Haddon Hall in the 1930s, Douglas Henson’s Bellemeade in 1957, and Kenneth Wright’s archival designs in 1993.
Minton China today is owned by WWRD Holdings Limited, a company that also manufactures other china brands including Wedgwood, Royal Albert, Royal Doulton and Johnson Brothers. The famous Minton Willow pattern continues to be a top seller today.