Condition: Very good
Price: £125 (approx $219)
Ref: #03465

One chip left edge and another bottom a very few very light scratches.

• Style/technique: Pictorial print
• Manufacturer: Mintons China Works
• Pattern number: 2475
• Dimensions: 6" x 6"
• Date: circa 1895

 

A pastoral scene of cattle paddling in and drinking of a river tributary with a bridge nearby. Transfer printed from an engraving almost certainly by L T Swetnam (Wise died two years before the series was introduced) and coloured with fabulous bright and charming colours.

Almost all of the Swetnam and Wise engravings look so much better in colour indeed from the techniques of the engraving, the original pattern books and the effect of coloured vs uncoloured it is clear that the original intent was to colour. It is a great shame that Mintons China Works for so long solely pursued mechanical decoration (eg Reynold's patent printing) and only in the very late 19thC fully embraced hand coloured designs. This is a super tile, the balance between print and colour just perfect giving precision and reliability without sacrificing feel and colour.

'Waterside Architecture' is probably the last 6" x 6" landscape series that Mintons China Works produced and the only one I have seen in post 1900 catalogues. The theme apparently is of waterways and pools with man-made structures nearby which include bridges, mills, towers etc, I can recall seeing maybe eight or ten so presumably a series of twelve but they don't come along very often. A great series to collect or a great gift for the fisherman!

Pattern number 2475 will date the series' introduction to early 1891, pattern number 2469 is also of waterside architecture views (eg Warwick Castle) but in 6" x 12" and 12" x 6" format.

Verso perfectly clean, unmarked offset grid.

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.