Moon flask with orchids
ca. 1872
Medium
Bone china
Dimensions
confirmed: 12 3/8 × 9 1/2 × 5 1/16 in. (31.4 × 24.1 × 12.9 cm)
Classification
Ceramics-Porcelain
Culture
British, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Helene Fortunoff and Robert Grossman, 2017
Accession Number
2018.62.7
Art Historical Context
Behold the elegant *Moon Flask with Orchids*, a stunning example of Victorian-era bone china crafted by the renowned British firm Minton(s) around1872 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire—the heart of England's pottery industry. This generous gift to the Metropolitan Museum of Art an impressive 12⅜ × 9½ × 5¹⁄₁₆ inches, its bulbous, flattened moon-flask form echoing 18th-century Chinese porcelain that captivated European tastes during the height of Chinoiserie revival. Minton(s), pioneers in fine bone china—a durable, ivory-white porcelain prized for its translucency and subtle glow—excelled in in...
About the Artist
Minton(s) · 1793–2001
Minton is among the most distinguished names in the history of British ceramics, a firm whose two and a quarter centuries of production encompass everything from blue transfer-printed earthenwares to the most rarefied decorative porcelain of the Victorian age. The company was founded in 1793 by Thomas Minton (1765–1836) in Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire — the heart of England's pottery industry. ...