The designer of Minton's "Essex Birds" series managed to distill the experience of a stroll through the English countryside into simple, but ever so artful, compositions featuring avian and plant life.

On this dinner plate, a tiny but brilliantly--perhaps whimsically--enameled song bird perches near a bough of pink and white apple blossoms that nearly encircles the plate.

As was its practice with successful designs, Minton produced "Essex Birds" in a number of different color variations, different clay bodies, and different ground colors. In this example, a stark white ground sets off the colorfully enameled composition. The octagonal shape chosen adds interest. No border--none needed.

We think of the Japanese influence on aesthetic movement ceramics in terms of highly stylized designs, fretwork ground patterns and specifically Japanese motifs. Yet another ornamental strain of the time shows the influence of Japanese prints with spontaneous views of nature that abandon traditional composition for odd angles and unconventional placement on the plate. In this vein, "Essex Birds" is the airborn equivalent of Minton's watery "Aquarium" series.