Vase and Cover thumbnail 1
Vase and Cover thumbnail 2
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Vase and Cover

ca. 1862 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Object Type
This impressive vase was made especially for display at the 1862 International Exhibition in London. Minton's, like other manufacturers, made their largest and showiest pieces for such international fairs, to demonstrate their technical capabilities, the skill of their painters and the quality of their design.

People
Ludwig (Louis) Hartmann Adalbert Jahn (1839-1911) was born in Thuringia, the centre of German porcelain manufacturing. He moved to Vienna for a short while and then joined Minton's some time before the 1862 exhibition, when his work, including this vase, was shown for the first time. He specialised in figure subjects after 18th-century painters such as Antoine Watteau and Joshua Reynolds. He painted to a high degree of finish, in a manner very close to the original easel painting he copied and in a style also used at the Vienna factory, although there is no evidence that he was employed there. He left Minton to become art director at Brownfield's in 1872, before returning to succeed Léon Arnoux as art director at Minton's in 1893. In 1903 he became curator of Hanley Museum, where he remained until his death in 1911.

Design & Designing
The paintings that Louis Jahn has copied onto this vase are both by Antoine Watteau: Le Danse Paysan and Harlequin Jaloux.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Vase
  • Cover
Materials and techniques
Bone china, painted in enamels and gilded
Brief description
Vase and cover, designed by Louis Jahn, Minton & Co., Stoke-on-Trent, about 1862
Dimensions
  • Height: 50.8cm
  • Maximum width: 34.7cm
  • Maximum depth: 23.0cm
Dimensions checked: Measured; 28/05/1999 by Terry Height 40.7 + 10.1 cms
Gallery label
(27/03/2003)
British Galleries:
This vase was designed by Louis Jahn, later Art Director of Mintons. Though he based the form on an 18th century SŠvres shape, he did not confine the painting to shaped panels, as the SŠvres designers would have done. In 1863 the Museum paid œ157.10s (œ157.50) for this vase, an enormous sum at the time.
Object history
Designed by Louis Jahn (born in Oberweissbach, Thuringia, Germany in 1839, died in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire), made by Minton & Co, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
Summary
Object Type
This impressive vase was made especially for display at the 1862 International Exhibition in London. Minton's, like other manufacturers, made their largest and showiest pieces for such international fairs, to demonstrate their technical capabilities, the skill of their painters and the quality of their design.

People
Ludwig (Louis) Hartmann Adalbert Jahn (1839-1911) was born in Thuringia, the centre of German porcelain manufacturing. He moved to Vienna for a short while and then joined Minton's some time before the 1862 exhibition, when his work, including this vase, was shown for the first time. He specialised in figure subjects after 18th-century painters such as Antoine Watteau and Joshua Reynolds. He painted to a high degree of finish, in a manner very close to the original easel painting he copied and in a style also used at the Vienna factory, although there is no evidence that he was employed there. He left Minton to become art director at Brownfield's in 1872, before returning to succeed Léon Arnoux as art director at Minton's in 1893. In 1903 he became curator of Hanley Museum, where he remained until his death in 1911.

Design & Designing
The paintings that Louis Jahn has copied onto this vase are both by Antoine Watteau: Le Danse Paysan and Harlequin Jaloux.
Collection
Accession number
8101&A-1863

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Record createdMay 25, 1999
Record URL
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