'Design' tile: C.14-1983

Titles

'Design' tile

Maker(s)

Factory: Minton Hollins & Co.
unidentified artist

Entities

• Tile
• Plaque

Categories

• Earthenware
• Dust-pressed earthenware

Description

Earthenware, transfer-printed, hand-painted and glazed, in painted wood frame.

Square, off-white, dust-pressed earthenware tile. Transfer printed design shows a seated allegorical figure of ‘Design’ holding a mirror and a pair of dividers, leans on a decorated plinth. In the background are a sculpted nude female figure and dolphin on a plinth (representing sculpture) and a domed building (representing architecture); in the foreground, a palette and brushes (representing painting). The figures and objects are filled with shaded blocks of colour. The woman’s dress is green, flowing over it is a magenta cloak or shawl. Her shoes and hair, and the plinth, are brown. The back of the tile is pressed into coffered squares, unglazed.

Notes

History note: Purchased from Mrs Joan Eve, Cambridge.

Legal notes

Purchased with the J.R.V. Smyth Fund.

Place(s) associated

• Stoke ⪼ Staffordshire ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bought (1983-06-13) by Eve, Joan

Dating

19th Century, Late#
Circa 1875 CE - 1880 CE

Note

Minton, founded in 1793, originally produced blue printed earthenware and, later, creamware, bone china and other products, particularly tableware. From the mid 1830s, new lines in encaustic and printed tiles, figures and ornamental wares were introduced, and in 1844 the factory was commissioned to produce floor tiles to Pugin’s designs for the new Palace of Wedminster. The 1840s also saw the introduction of dust-pressed tiles, made by pressing powdered clay into a moulding box, building on a process patented by Richard Prosser for making buttons. Dust-pressed tiles dry more quickly and are less likely to warp. Moreover, by introducing dies into the moulding box, a single press can produce relief decoration and a moulded back - a characteristic feature of dust-pressed tiles, which aids bonding with mortar. In 1845, Herbert Minton took two nephews, Colin Minton Campbell and Michael Daintry Hollins, into partnership. In 1868, following a dispute, Hollins left to set up a tile works trading as Minton, Hollins & Co., which continued successfully into 1950s, before merging with Johnson tiles. Mintons also continues to produce tiles.

This tile is one of a series of allegorical figures representing The Arts. Three are in the Fitzwilliam Collection: ‘Sculpture’, ‘Design’ and ‘Architecture’, there may also have been others, perhaps including ‘Music’. The series was also produced in 6 inch tiles. These three tiles may originally have been displayed as plaques or inset as panels into a cabinet or washstand. The series is linked by a unified colour-scheme, similarly drawn and clothed figures and recurring attributes. The allegorical theme and dress are classical, but the setting, pose and bold colours give the tiles a more modern air. Although examples of this design are rare, tile series were popular at the time, with subjects ranging from ‘agriculture’ to ‘musical instruments’; another version of Arts and Sciences, designed by John Moyr Smith for Mintons China Works in c.1892, shows more classically posed figures.

School or Style

Victorian