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Art Nouveau / Arts &
Crafts Movement Style Majolica Tiles
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- Style/technique: Art nouveau majolica
- Designer: Charles Henry Temple
- Manufacturer: Maw & Co
- Dimensions: 6" x 6" per tile
- Date: circa 1905
This fabulous group of tiles were designed by C H
Temple around the turn of the century and made by Maw
& Co of Jackfield, Shropshire. Moulded in high relief
and coloured in rich, brilliant glazes and in a style
that blends the best of arts & crafts and art
nouveau. The somewhat khaki green acts as a perfect foil
for the rich green and mottled blue, the high relief with
brilliant translucent glazes literally and figuratively
give depth.
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When first seeing the tiles one is captivated by the
brilliance of the glazes and the movement in the design
but it was after some while that I really took on board
the superlative design especially of the bottom foliate
pair. A single tile would stand scrutiny on it's own,
full of movement, wildly asymetric yet perfectly balance,
of the standard of works by George Cartlidge and Walter
Crane and I suggest better than Lewis Day and Morris
& Co - that is their work on tiles.
Charles Henry Temple (1857-1940) was an influential
artist and worked for Maw & Co from 1887 to 1906, he
was responsible for many of their designs and contributed
to the success of the company during this period when
they were the largest tile manufacturer in the world.
These are an example of truly excellent design, with
flexibility of components to design tiling schemes they
were well liked especially for institutional and public
buildings such as libraries. However in these buildings
they were very well fixed to the walls with portland
cement and most of such buildings disappeared in the
1960s and 70s mass modernisation of the cities of Great
Britain and few remain.
These tiles are illustrated in 20th Century Decorative
British Tiles by Chris Blanchett on page 357, albeit in
somewhat less inspiring colours than these, where an
alternative arrangement to those shown here is
illustrated. There are yet more possible arrangements
too. The double top flower tiles are most demonstrably
art nouveau in style and have the benefit of three
colours. There is some typical variation in colours,
mostly of the background green, and minor variations in
dimensions.
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There is at times some conflict between the ideas of
tile collectors and those who wish to use tiles as they
were originally intended being fixed to walls which some
collectors think is undesirable for such art objects. It
is rather difficult to know how best to offer these tiles
for sale as together they would make a very impressive
focal point for example in a family kitchen above the Aga
or arranged around a mantel opening with suitable plain
tiles yet equally well they could be divided and afford
pleasure to several different tile collectors.
Accordingly they are priced as they may be used by
collectors mostly as individual components and a discount
is offered for purchase of the whole.
The horizontal pairs have been selected for best
dimensions as collectors usually like to display tiles
just sitting on a shelf or ledge and with the patterns
reaching close to the edges they are perhaps best not
framed. The vertical stem and bud panels are perhaps best
framed so dimensions were not considered too important.
If tiled to a wall the minor variations in dimensions
will be lost in the overall scheme. The tiles are well
moulded and substantial being slightly thicker than
normal.
Condition overall is very good, there are a few edge
chips and some small surface chips and stun marks but
nothing that competes in any way with the brilliance of
the glazes and excellence of the design. There are no
marks of any note that are not visible in the larger
images, all chips and stuns can clearly be seen, rubbing
to high points is minimal and what scratches there are at
worst short and very light apart from two clearly visible
in the images. Condition as ever is reflected in
pricing.
Versos are all extremely clean, a few have very tiny
amounts of adhesive residue. Unmarked except for patent
number and uncommon but well known offset bars and lock
rings.
The set for a mantel shown above (requires a few
plains for the bottom to make the height) would cost
£720 (approx $1290).
Click on any double tile for a full sized image to
open in a new window.
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Condition: Very good
Price: £290 (approx $600)
Ref #02786-1 Double Capital
Chips top outside corners, tiny chips to other corners,
chips on the tips and edges of the central petal both tiles,
two very small edge chips on the right tile, half a dozen
other tiny > minute edge and outline chips. Glazed
surfaces are very fine just a little light rubbing to some
high points and a very few extremely light scratches.
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Condition: Very good
Price: £170 (approx $345)
Ref #02786-3 Foliate Pair
Left is near perfect just a few very tiny marks.
Right has chip top left corner and another where the
right leaf meets the top edge, a few tiny chips grouped
together lower right edge, about a dozen tiny stun marks and
a light stun scratch on the right leaf just below the top
edge.
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Condition: Very good
Price: £155 (approx $315)
Ref #02786-4 Foliate Pair
Left has tiny/minute chips to corners and one just below
top left corner, short stun line upper left and chip to tip
of leaf nearby, a couple of tiny surface chips, about a
dozen tiny stun marks.
Right has very tiny/minute chips to three corners, one
tiny chip on each of three edges, short scratch mid near
right edge, other very minor marks.
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Condition: Good
Price: £55 (approx $112)
Ref #02786-7+9 Bud and Stem
The bud has very tiny chip top edge and minute chips left
corners, wear to the tip of the right petal of the cetral
motif, some stun marks and very light rubbing to high
points.
The stem has near perfect edges but chips to the relief
around one third of the way up the tile. Some stun marks and
light scratches
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Condition: Good
Price: £55 (approx $112)
Ref #02786-8+0 Bud and Stem
The bud has three chips on the bottom including left
corner, some stun marks, a couple of very light scratches, a
little light rubbing to high points.
The stem two corner chips, two tiny and one minute
surface chips otherwise the surface is near perfect.
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Condition: Fine
Price: £50 (approx $102)
Ref #02786-5 Bud
Very tiny chips to corners, chip right edge, near perfect
surface.
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Condition: Fine
Price: £50 (approx $102)
Ref #02786-6 Bud
Chips right corners, tiny chip top left corner, a few
tiny stun marks and other very minor surface marks.
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The larger images are full size at 72 dpi (about 430 pixels
wide) in maximum quality JPEG format. A larger 120 dpi image
also in maximum quality JPEG format can be forwarded by
email if required.
Images are 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.
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