Condition: Excellent
Price: £175 (approx $265)
Ref: #03345

For a pot stand it is especially excellent condition, some very minor damage to edge tips but the surface is near perfect.

• Style/technique: Pictorial print
• Manufacturer: Mintons China Works
• Dimensions: 6" x 6"
• Date: circa 1885

 

A finely engraved view of Edinburgh Castle from The Grassmarket on a square edged pot stand and signed W Wise.

This series is more often found on pot stands than tiles and was presumably sold as giftware at popular holiday spots. As far as I know is the only one in the 'series' signed by Wise, I suspect there was a change in company policy with respect to the desirability of signatures, maybe sometimes he snuck it in! Later in his career he probably did more painting as Swetman took over the role of engraver. 

Most pot stands have chamfered corners and edges to avoid damage in use and so are presumed to be later. This has full square edges and corners yet is marked England which is generally thought to have only been used from 1890 onwards and so represents rather an oddity, maybe just the old mould was brought out for some reason. Also this is pressed (or maybe cast) in one piece rather than the majority on Mintons pot stands having separate feet affixed.

The image is full size at 72 dpi (about 430 pixels wide) in maximum quality JPEG format and on screen is about the size as it would be in real life at the same distance. A larger 120 dpi image also in maximum quality JPEG format can be forwarded by email if required.

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.