A most fabulous and rare art nouveau tube
lined tile from Gibbons Hinton, a design of the
twin tulip genre well outlined and faithfully
painted. Through the precision the skill and
dexterity of the decorator shows through with an
excellent mix of restraint and flair, terrific
movement and flow of line in a symmetrical
design.
Five glaze colours, relatively easy to use
natural colours apart from the slightly quirky
pale blue, but none the less for that for the
contrast with the pale cream ground is perfect.
The density of the stamens in the flowers
creates a pooling effect with the yellow
increasing its depth and hence producing
graduating colour, not merely skillfull
execution but terrific all-round design too.
This group of tiles is the only Gibbons
Hinton tube lined art nouveau design that I can
recall seeing though there were some fleur de
lys tube line with a hint of art nouveau from
the same property. It is quite difficult to
fathom why this design was not made as pressed
majolica as it surely would have been a top
seller. Owen Gibbons was a partner in the firm,
head of art and an artist and designer himself
he trained at Kensington Art School and was
formerly head of the noted Coalbrookdale School
of Art.
Verso a little stained, unmarked but well
known Gibbons Hinton grip pattern.
