A large Minton pâte-sur-pâte vase and cover by Alboin Birks,...

Hammer

£4,900

A large Minton pâte-sur-pâte vase and cover by Alboin Birks, circa 1910, of slender shield shape, the two wreath handles with modelled ribbon terminals picked out in gold, reserved with a shaped rectangular peacock blue panel to each side, one painted in opaque white with a semi-nude nymph in flight, wearing winged sandals, attended by two winged cherubs, against a sky set with stars, signed 'A Birks', the other with a formal arrangement of roses, foliage and arrows suspended from tied ribbons, the sides with rectangular panels decorated with a formal border of masks, cornucopias and scrollwork on a pale blue ground, the cream-coloured vase and domed cover with scale ornament and classical borders in raised gold, 41cm high, printed globe mark and NP1257 in gold, indistinct impressed date cipher and incised shape no.1013. 

Provenance - Bonhams, Fine Glass & British Ceramics, July 2025.
Previously Alboin Birks and thence by family descent.

Minton opened a separate account book for pâte-sur-pâte vases in June 1871 in which every entry was numbered, the first denoted as NP1 and the last entry for pâte-sur-pâte listed as NP1434, with 'NP' or 'New Pattern' mark indicating new and trial wares. The present vase is number NP1257. A similar vase was sold by Christie's New York on 25 October 2007, lot 550.

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Free from damage or restoration