Lot 79
Minton Plate from the Lord Milton Service, c.1867

Lot 79 Details
Minton Plate from the Lord Milton Service, c.1867
painted in colours on the centre with ‘A Wayside House - Arrival of Miners’, the pierced rim with etched gilding, one oval reserve painted with the Milton cipher
diameter 9.3" — 23.5 cm.
impressed marks, printed MINTON’S CHINA and retailers’ marks for Phillips of London in puce, painted title in red script
Estimate $1,000-$1,500
Exhibited:
Milton and Cheadle’s Great Adventure, Jonny’s Antiques, Shakespeare (with label, #12)
Note:
A Way-Side House - Arrival Of Miners. (Dessert Plate 12)
“The accommodation along the road was everywhere miserable enough, but after leaving Clinton it became abominable. The only bed was the floor of the “way-side houses,” which occur every ten miles or so, and are named the “Fiftieth” or “Hundreth Mile House,” according to the number of the nearest mile-post. Our solitary blankets formed poor padding against the inequalities of the rough-hewn boards, and equally ineffectual to keep out the cold draughts which whistled under the ill-fitting door of the hut. A way-side house on the road to the mines is merely a rough log hut of a single room; at one end large open chimney, and at the side a bar counter. behind which are shelves with rows of bottles containing the vilest of alcoholic drinks. The miners on their journey up or down, according to the season – come dropping in towards evening in twos and threes, divest themselves of the roll of blankets slung upon their backs, and depositing them upon the floor, use them as a seat, for the hut possesses few or none. The next thing is to have a ‘drink,’ which is proposed by some one of the party less ‘hard up’ than his friends, and the rest of the company present are generally invited to join in.
Milton & Cheadle, page 359
This scene of men relaxing and drinking before a roaring fire in a rough-sawn timber room, simply furnished with a bench, bar and very well equipped back bar, occurs on the low, pierced-foot comport #11 and on dessert plate #12. Other views from the 23 print sources are duplicated on the services (Comport #14 & Plate #15 ‘Miners Washing For Gold’). As you would expect from painted decoration, the same views aren’t identical. Not only do costume colours vary, but the ‘Arrival of Miners’ plate has 3 bottles on the bar & 1 door while the comport has 2 bottles & 2 doors. (The print shows 3 bottles & 2 doors.)