A Japanese-style center arrangement of tasselled fans and prunus identifies the pattern of this dessert plate as "Bombay" by Mintons.* The blank is a traditional arcaded dessert plate, with the pierced detail finished in a heavy turquoise enamel. The molded basketweave detail just inside the edge is framed by delicate pinstriping in brilliant blue. The bold black transfer center arrangement is softened with fine enamel touches in pink, peach, blue and green --- effectively highlighting the splashing carp depicted on one of the fans.

Minton gave us a catalog of wonderful aesthetic transfer patterns, however "Bombay" must have been a favorite. The standard version features the center detail seen here framed in a complex arrangement of Japanesque ground borders and fan shape reserves. Minton's variations range from a simple dark blue transfer to multiple combinations of elaborate enamel details. The pattern was even adapted for an oyster plate!

*With regard to the Minton mark, the "S" was added from the early 1870's, dropped again around 1950.