An excellent handpainted tile with a picture
of mother and children and a basket of broken
eggs with a painted outline and richly coloured.
I have seen this design before and others from
the series but only very occassionally, I
suspect based upon a nursery rhyme or fairy tale
and probably adapted from a work by Walter
Crane.
The artist has exceptional painting skills, I
have examined this very closely for quite some
while in the belief that the outline should be
printed but it must be painted. Filled with
lovely bright colours too. On a Minton Hollins
blank, the highest quality biscuit of the period
from Stoke on Trent (Maw's from
Broseley/Jackfield was of similar quality) it
was the most widely used by independent
decorators and quality studios so whilst this
may have been painted at the Minton Hollins
Patent Tile Works I feel more likely by a small
studio.
Verso a little grubby and with adhesive
residue from a plate hanger, embossed Minton
Hollins etc.
