Autumnal flowers

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It is autumn here, and all colours are changing fast... on my desk is a vase with beautiful chrysanthemums and the last of the hydrangeas in my garden. Today I am showing a dessert service by Minton, decorated with superb chrysanthemums and raised gilt.

This service was made in 1894 to the highest specifications. The plates are simple and made of very white, beautifully smooth bone china. But the decoration! The chrysanthemums were painted by Anton Connelly, one of Minton's very good artists.

Connelly came from Ireland for an apprenticeship, and then he kept working at Minton for many years. He was one of the artists who were famous enough to be allowed by the factory to sign their work (see if you can discover his signature in the foliage!), which was a relatively new thing to do in those days and was considered a great honour reserved for the best artists only.

If you look closely at the decoration of these plates, you will see that the gilding is "raised", or "tooled" or "chased" - all different terms to express this wonderful effect where the gilt has been applied with texture, a very difficult and expensive process. The flowers themselves are similarly done, so they pop off the plate not only because of their colours, but also because they were painted with some texture.

This set is in near-perfect condition (a couple of plates have crazing, and there is the odd scratch from handling, but no damage or significant wear)

You can find it here in my shop... and if you always want to see the latest, follow my instagram feed... I post pictures and stories every single day.

Enjoy your weekend!