SIR HENRY COLE (1808-1882) FOR FELIX SUMMERLY'S ART MANUFACTURERS
PART TEA SERVICE, DESIGNED 1846
£425
Hints on Household Taste : Paul Reeves
Auction: 28 June 2022 from 11:00 BST
Description
made by Minton & Co., printed, painted and glazed porcelain, comprising TWO TEACUPS, 8.5cm diameter; TWO SAUCERS, 14.5cm diameter; a PAIR OF PLATES, 20cm diameter; a TWIN-HANDLED BREAD PLATE, 26cm across; and a SUGAR BOWL, 13.5cm diameter, each bears printed marks SOCIETY OF ARTS PRIZE PATTERN/ MINTON & CO., STAFFORDSHIRE/ FS/ 1946 INVT.
Footnote
Literature: Whiteway, Michael and Gere, Charlotte Nineteenth Century Design: From Pugin to Mackintosh, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1993, p.67, pl. 65 illus.
Note: Henry Cole founded Felix Summerly’s Art Manufactures in 1847, hoping that if well-known painters and sculptors could be persuaded to produce designs for functional objects the firm could ‘promote public taste’. Henry Cole was a close friend of Herbert Minton and persuaded him to make the service he had designed to enter the Society of Arts' competition. The separate parts of the tea service remained in production for some years, the cup especially. It was given the factory code of FS (for Felix Summerly) and became a Minton standard.