This Minton "moon vase" or "pilgrim flask," with enamel decoration by Emily Earle, neatly...
This Minton "moon vase" or "pilgrim flask," with enamel decoration by Emily Earle, neatly illustrates several of the important trends in ornamentation characteristic of the final decades of the nineteenth century.
Most obvious is the influence of Japanese art--apparent in the naturalism of the spray of peonies and bamboo foliage on one side of the vase and the meditative simplicity of the spare bamboo sprig and butterfly vignette on the reverse. The choice of materials to portray, peonies and bamboo, themselves signal the presence of what the French would call une japoniste. The strong black outlines and simplified shading also indicate the work of one versed in the preferred ornamental drawing styles of the time.
In addition the simple borders at the neck, sides, and vase clearly derive from the geometric sources advocated by design theorists since Owen Jones earlier in the century.
Design theory, however, is never allowed to supersede aesthetics in this harmonious, strikingly colored piece.