Object Type
Tea plates were sold by the dozen. They were an addition to the standard service, which included only two large plates for serving thinly sliced bread and butter. This plate was added and became part of a relatively expensive service made of Minton's very high-quality bone china and is skilfully painted.

Design & Designing
This painting of a bunch of fresh country flowers such as honeysuckle and grasses is in an apparently innocently naturalistic manner but in fact owes much to an awareness of Japanese art. The influx of Japanese art and artefacts from the mid-1860s onwards and its fashionable popularity encouraged British artists and designers to invent a new version of natural, asymmetrical and informal decoration, often using insects and wild flowers. The cups in this service have handles in the form of butterflies.

Social Class
Tablewares were an essential part of Minton's production throughout the 19th century and contributed significantly to the company's stability. Ironstones, semi-porcelains, bone chinas and earthenwares were produced in vast quantities, reflecting the various styles in current use in the factory. Minton's bone china was recognised to be of exquisite quality, and in the later 19th century the company established its reputation as a supplier of special services to the royal and aristocratic families of Europe. This quality was maintained throughout the bone china production, even if, as here, the decoration was rather less extravagant or the gilding less rich.