This is an extreme rarity, an excellent scene
of the sun rising over a lake framed by bunches
of irises on the shoreline glazed in an
excellent shade of translucent blue.
Rare because:
6" x 3" pictorial tiles barely exist,
especially landscapes.
Majolica pictures are relatively uncommon.
Pictorial Pilkington tiles from around 1900 are
rare.
Most really great tiles from Pilkington can be
attributed to a known designer, this isn't.
Designed by Cosmo Rowe in 1893 the group
being the only tiles deigned by him for
Pilkington although there is a Rowe recorded as
having painted for Wedgwood. From a set
apparently purpose designed for fireplaces there
being a matching 6" x 6" and pair of 6" x 12"
scenes of cranes in a lake and in flight which
in my opinion are the best Pilkington tiles of
the genre that I have seen.
Verso slightly grubby, 'P's in opposing
corners without serifs! The reported defining
date of serif and sans-serif letters appears too
arbitrary to us as groups of tiles from the same
original set appear with both, tiles with
sans-serif appear with early registration marks
and serif with later registration marks.
