A Minton vase 'à Têtes d'Eléphant', dated 1878


Modelled after the Sèvres prototype, with elephant heads at the necks, their trunks with gilt finials at the tips, richly decorated with a blue ground covered in vermiculé gilding and reserved with a panel of Venus and Cupid, the reverse with a spray of fruit and flowers, 29.8cm high, impressed mark
|As part of their exercise in reproducing the soft paste porcelain of Sèvres, Minton borrowed a number of priceless original vases from the leading collections of the day, including Sir Richard Wallace and Alfred Rothschild. Minton's artistic director, Leon Arnoux had come from Sèvres and understood its subtle beauty. He provided the workmen at Minton with the formula for soft paste porcelain used at Sèvres as he wanted Minton's bone china to resemble the original as closely as possible. Thomas Goode was one of the collectors who lent their treasured Sèvres for copying. A similar pair of Minton Vase Duplessis à têtes d'éléphant from the Thomas Goode collection is illustrated by Joan Jones, Minton, The First 200 Years (1993), p.86. Another very similar vase in the Minton Museum Collection was sold by Bonhams, 23 July 2002, lot 84 and a pair by Bonhams on 3 June 2015, lot 22