Object Type
Raised above plates and dishes on the table, a comport added elegance to a table setting and varied the presentation of food. This example is in the fashionable 'Japanese' taste. It is also relatively expensively made in Minton & Co.'s brilliantly white bone china, with a generous amount of gilding. It was probably available to order as part of a large table service.

Design & Designing
The decoration on this comport owes much to an awareness of Japanese art. The shape is standard, but the decoration is sophisticated, with its asymmetrical positioning of plants and birds. The use of gilding and silvering suggests Japanese lacquer. The influx of Japanese art and artefacts into Britain from the mid-1860s onwards was very influential on popular taste. British artists and designers were encouraged to invent new versions of Japanese-influenced natural, asymmetrical and informal decoration often depicting insects, birds and wild flowers.

Materials & Making
Tableware was an essential part of Minton's production and contributed significantly to the company's financial stability. Ironstones (opaque porcelain said to contain iron slag), semi-porcelains (a refined earthenware imitating porcelain), bone chinas and earthenwares were produced in vast quantities. They reflected the various styles in current use in the factory and in fashionable taste. The process of acid gilding, developed in 1863, allowed for raised and moulded relief decoration and was used extensively to ornament the richest services. Plain gilding, such as on this example, was used to embellish simpler wares and those aiming for a more restrained aesthetic.