These simple, round salad plates represent one variant of Minton's "Aquarium" pattern, designed by William Coleman, one of Minton's premier artists of the aesthetic period.

Coleman conveys the swirl of undersea life in this Japanese-influenced design  A vertical plant divides the surface into two asymmetrical parts. On the left a single large fish, the blur of his tail fin suggesting movement, dives toward the sea floor. On the right side, smaller fish, some mere squiggles, scurry off to the right edge.  The sense of movement of the diving fish and contrasting size of smaller swimmers  create a sense of depth and distance in the overall design.  

While many transfer patterns appealed to the aesthetic consumer by simply incorporating Japanese motifs, Coleman penetrates deeply into the Japanese mode of capturing nature in these aquatic studies. He defies the western tradition of nature depiction and china decoration, filling the plates with asymmetrical, spontaneous, unconventionally close-up views. The placement of the drawings on the plate is unprecedented in transferware. While "Aquarium" was produced in may variations, this blue version, with a hint of flow in the heavy printing, effectively conveys the quality of an Asian ink brush study.