A very rare Minton majolica garden seat circa 1865

the rectangular seat moulded with a white and purple leaf tied with a blue bow beneath flowering peony against a simulated wicker cream ground inside purple, ochre and turquoise borders, the back pierced with cash, the pierced arms moulded with styised flowers beneath green borders, raised on a later painted wood stand with cabriole legs

According to P.Atterbury and M.Batkin, The Dictionary of Minton, 1990, p.93, a majolica garden seat in the form of an armchair was shown at the Paris Exhibition of 1867. A coloured design for a majolica armchair is illustrated by J.Jones, Minton, The First Two Hundred Years of Design & Production, p.146, where the author states that the chair was produced but examples remain to be discovered.