- Style/technique: Aesthetic/majolica
- Manufacturer: Copeland
- Dimensions: 8" x 8"
- Date: 1876
A rarely found and early Copeland hand moulded
majolica tile in a gothic style and glazed with a light
persian blue. This is a hand-made tile of great quality,
a porcelain-type clay having been pressed in to a mould
to make the embossed pattern and the back combed to
provide grip for the adhesive. The name 'Copeland' is
impressed as is the date mark for 1876.
Majolica tiles with translucent glazes were not
cost-effective to mass manufacture at this date as the
materials and techniques for mass production had not yet
been perfected. Majolica tiles available at this time
were far from widespread and were of terracotta clays and
opaque glaze colours as translucent glazes were of little
use where the underlying clay colour would adversely
affect the finished colour. Many people are under the
impression that lead glazed, dust pressed white clay
majolica tiles were standard fare in the 1880s, this is
not the case. The reprinted Mintons 1885 catalogue is
often cited, this is an excellent resource but the
majolica tile page is later, it was inserted in to the
original catalogue around 1892/1893. There are just a few
patterns on this majolica page that date from about a
decade earlier but when they were first made they used
the more stable buff or brown coloured clays.
Clearly not up to our usual standard of condition we
offer this for sale because it is a rare item.
