"The Host" plate, one of a pair

Minton's was one of the most successful and style-forward pottery and porcelain factories in Stoke-on-Trent in the late 19th century. Their works were prominently shown at World's Fairs and disseminated Asian and Greek revival styles popularized by design reformers. This plate is from a series of twelve featuring figures from the poems of the ancient Greek Anacreon, drawn with historically appropriate dress and furnishings. These were launched as dessert plates with varying borders at the award-winning Minton display at the 1878 Paris Exposition Universelle. Minton later applied the figurative roundels to a tile series with plain borders.