• Style/technique: Gothic majolica
• Manufacturer: Mintons China Works
• Designed by: A W N Pugin
• Pattern number: 894/3
• Dimensions: 6" x 6"
• Date: circa 1893

 

A very rare A W N Pugin design in 'modern majolica' - lead glazed on white clay pressed body, embossed and deeply indented and glazed in four colours with extremely high brilliance. Rare to see such bright gothic designs (I collect gothic majolicas) and even rarer to get such a set for a fireplace in such amazing condition. An excellent feature for a late 19thC arts & crafts style house, excellent interior design colours, will work with almost any colour scheme yet can not fail to impress.

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Originally fitted in to furniture versos are spotlessly clean and unnamed but have three varieties of attributed Mintons grids and some have the pattern number painted in glaze.

Condition: Excellent
Price for ten: £700 (approx $1400)
Ref: 10036

A few edge chips largest on middle row right tile right edge which also has a glazed over flaw chip top left corner, some slightly filed corners for original fitting, all edge marks would be hidden in a traditional cast iron fireplace. Minor manufacturing imperfections mostly a little bubbling in the glaze near some edges again most would be hidden in fitting and minor surface marks. Perfectly clean and exceptional brilliance in the glazes.

Pattern number 894 comes from before the division of Minton & Co in to Minton Hollins and Mintons China Works in 1868 and being in the gothic style this design will be the work of A W N Pugin. In the introduction to the 1885 Mintons China Works catalogue it says, "The process for the decoration of Tiles was early favoured by the late Mr A Welby Pugin, "the great restorer of Gothic Art," in the Houses of Parliament and in many other places, and the patterns in that style of ornament in this book are all from his hand". This design does not appear in the pattern book but pattern numbers up to 1325 are in the gothic style, lower pattern numbers in the gothic style are therefore attributable to Pugin.

Mintons China Works often renewed existing pattern using the latest processes, patterns which originally were designed for encaustic tiles were later made in traditional majolica, then printed and few in modern majolica. As Pugin designs in modern majolica these are very rare tiles and perhaps were somewhat experimental as Mintons caught up with other manufacturers in exploring the technique and used an existing pattern to do so.