• Style/technique: Art Nouveau majolica
• Manufacturer: Corn Bros
• Dimensions: 6" x 6"
• Date: circa 1902
• Colours: 4

 

What a super, modern design for its date. Predominently art deco with a little classical reference yet made near the begining of the art nouveau era. Well ahead of its time being made by 1905 at the latest at least a decade before art deco existed as a recognised style and even before art nouveau reached it's peak. Indented and embossed in a good range of five colours.

The company was started by Edmund Corn in the first half of the 19thC, presumably 1837, making pottery. Around 1850 his sons W & E Corn (William and Edward) took over the running of the business. William died in 1885 and Edward in 1891 whereupon his sons Alfred Henry and Edmund Richard took over. E. R. Corn almost immediately began experimenting with tile manufacture, early tiles may bear the name W & E Corn, the name Corn Brothers was used for tiles from 1894. The brothers transfered to a new factory, the Pinnox Works in Tunstall, in 1903, there they ceased manufacture of tableware and concentrated on tiles. At the new factory the Corn names were allowed to lapse and the firm became The Henry Richard Tile Company. Alfred Henry was the chairman when they celebrated a century of progress in 1937.

Manufacturing quality of this tile is similar to that of Henry Richard Tile Co so we can be fairly certain that this tile was made at the Pinnox Works but at least before the end of 1905. It appears that transfer from Longport to Tunstall ran for up to two years as some tiles with design registrations for 1901 appear made on the Pinnox works equipment with the new style verso. Quite a few designs, apparently a hundred or two (not that many considering their prolific output and range of designs) were carried over from Corn Bros to Henry Richards and appear on blanks from both companies. I have not seen any evidence whatsoever to suggest Corn Bros blanks were in use post 1905 indeed Richards changed their back pattern again apparently around 1910 - 1912.

Verso is known Corn Bros marked with C and Copyright.

Condition: Very Good
Price: £75 ($148)
Ref: 01707C

Minor chips/wear to bottom corners, small chips to raised line, other minor surface marks. Very clean and bright.

Condition: Excellent
Price: £85 ($168)
Ref: 01707D

Medium chip left edge, rubbing to bottom left corner, other minor surface marks. Very clean and bright.

Condition: Excellent
Price: £85 (approx $168)
Ref: 01707E

Rubbing to bottom left corner, scratches near bottom edge but away from the focus, other minor surface marks. Very clean and bright.

The image is a little oversize rather than cropped close to the edges so that the edges can easily be seen and any chips etc can be quickly spotted. Other marks described are usually not visible at all when the tile is viewed straight as one normally sees it and can only be seen with a critical eye when the tile is tilted to catch imperfections in reflected light. For more details of how we describe marks see Condition.

The image is full size at 72 dpi (about 430 pixels wide) in maximum quality JPEG format. Customers may request a larger 120 dpi image also in maximum quality JPEG format for closer inspection which will be sent by email.

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