A Minton porcelain bleu céleste ground 'Queen's Vase' and cover, c.1860-5, puce printed circular...

A Minton porcelain bleu céleste ground 'Queen's Vase' and cover, c.1860-5, puce printed circular crown and ermine mark and painted ermine mark, the boat shape with upswept handles and gilt laurel garlands, painted with rectangular panels of Diana Bathing after Francois Boucher and a musical trophy, the domed cover with a closed flower bud finial, 33cm high 

Note: The influence of Sèvres porcelain on Minton production was firmly entrenched through the Victorian era and into the 20th century, encouraged by the many French artists working at the factory, a number of whom had previously worked at Sèvres. With the arrival of Léon Arnoux in the late 1840s, Minton's were able to master the Sèvres colours and decorative techniques, adapt them to bone china production, and produce models that clearly expressed their admiration, and with clear marks to ensure no deception.
This form of vase is taken from a vase in the British Royal Collection, which appears to be the only known Sèvres vase of this form. In his catalogue for the collection, Sir Geoffrey de Bellaigue suggests that a possible explanation for it being the only known example may be that difficulties were encountered when the vase was fired in the biscuit kiln (see French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, London, 2009, p. 372.). The Royal Collection vase has firing cracks including a large split between the foot and the main part of the vase at the centre of its socle. This split has been disguised by a gilt-bronze reeded mount, possibly from the time it was made, and this reeded gilt-bronze border around the waisted part of the socle has been interpreted in porcelain on the present vase. 
The Royal Collection vase was recorded at George IV’s house Carlton House in 1826. When Minton copied it, it would have belonged to Queen Victoria, possibly explaining why this form is known as ‘The Queen’s Vase’. Two surviving plaster models at Sèvres for this form of vase are described in an 1814 inventory as vase écritoire uni and vase écritoire à bas relief, and these models relate to a drawing still at Sèvres which bears a later annotation ‘1740-1780 / 7 / V. Ecritoire uni’ (see Sir Geoffrey de Bellaigue, ibid., 2009, p. 371). Although the Royal Collection Sèvres vase can’t be identified in the manufactory’s records, de Bellaigue suggests that this large and ambitious form may have been designed by Jean-Claude Duplessis, a designer of vases at Sèvres who was also a goldsmith, bronze founder and sculptor, particularly as the elaborate finial on the top of the cover is so sculptural.