Have your five-a-day

Are you concerned about getting your five-a-day? This vase will provide any fruit you need...

When I first saw this sublime Minton vase I started shouting with excitement, as it is very rare to find a vase with so many rare properties that is in such pristine condition. Although this isn't usually my taste (you will have noticed that I haven't shown many "applied flower" items), it is done so incredibly well, and painted so wonderfully beautiful, that you just can't help but love it to death.⁠

It was made by Minton between 1830 and 1835. The shape is famous and was called the "scroll footed jar" - Minton had the strange habit of calling vases "jars". But what makes this one special is the fruit paintings, which are nothing less than sublime. They were done by Thomas Steel (sometimes written as "Steele"), who is accepted to be the best porcelain painter of fruits from the 19th Century. Are you hungry or thirsty? Just look at these fruits, and you will feel nourished! ⁠

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Steel had a very recognisable style of fruit painting, perhaps best described by the biographer John Haslem: ⁠

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"Steele painted both flowers and insects well, but as a painter of fruit on china he had no superior, if, indeed, he had any equal in his day... His grouping is harmonious, the light and shade well managed, each piece of fruit is well rounded, and the outline softened and blended into the one next to it, each partaking of the reflected colour from the other."⁠

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Add the fantastic applied flowers and fruits, all done in porcelain and painted in bright colours, and you have a truly sublime object. And what makes it even more special is the fact that it has no repairs - usually when you see a vase this beautiful, it does have professional repairs, but after checking this one under UV light I came to the conclusion that what you see is what you get.⁠

You can find this wonderful vase here in my shop (and you can see all my decorative objects here), and if you always want to see the latest additions, follow me on Instagram... I post pictures and a story every single day 🍇🍑🍐🍓.

Enjoy your weekend!