Six Minton's green cockatrice teacups, saucers and plates.
Printed pink factory marks
Pattern 4863 in script
In 1788 Thomas Minton came to Stoke-Upon-Trent, he bought land, built a house and a factory and was an immediate success. He had previously apprenticed at Caughley and had worked at Spode in London.
In the 1820s he started production of bone china; this early Minton is regarded as comparable to French Sèvres, by which it was greatly influenced.
Minton's was the only English china factory of the 19th century to employ a Sèvres process called pâte-sur-pâte (ie: painted decoration in white clay slip instead of enamel before glazing).
Mintons eventually merged with Royal Doulton which was itself taken over by Waterford Wedgewood in January 2005. The main factory was demolished and even a Mintons museum was destroyed as part of “rationalisation”.
A cockatrice is a mythical beast, essentially a two-legged dragon, wyvern, or serpent-like creature with a rooster's head. Described by Laurence Breiner as "an ornament in the drama and poetry of the Elizabethans", it was featured prominently in English thought and myth for centuries.
A cockatrice is a mythical beast, essentially a two-legged dragon, wyvern, or serpent-like creature with a rooster's head. Described by Laurence Breiner as "an ornament in the drama and poetry of the Elizabethans", it was featured prominently in English thought and myth for centuries.