Tile

CultureEnglish
Titles
  • Tile
Datec. 1760–1770
Made inLiverpool, England
MediumTin-glazed earthenware (delftware) with transfer print and enamel
Dimensions5 × 5 × 1/4 in. (12.7 × 12.7 × 0.6 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by Mr. and Mrs. John La Duc
Object numberB.2005.12
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Ceramics Study Room
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

John Sadler and Guy Green were the first to print on pottery. During the 1750s, as this process was developed, delftware’s popularity was being challenged by the introduction of new ceramic bodies, most notably salt-glazed stoneware. Unlike delftware, it could be molded to realize more fluid decoration, which showed baroque and rococo styles better. In addition, salt-glazed stoneware was a thinner, harder ceramic and less prone to chips and breakage. Transfer-printing offered the delftware potters a way to update their product in an effort to compete.

Transfer printing in the mid 1700s was ideally suited for a flat surface explaining why a number of designs were produced for tiles. This example belongs to a small group, numbering only eleven compositions. They represent the very best tiles being regular in size and with a smooth surface. Their rarity is underscored when consulting the catalogues of delftware at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Colonial Williamsburg, Historic Deerfield, and the Museum of London, which do not record any polychrome, transfer-printed examples.

This group of tiles first came to scholarly attention through a paper presented by Anthony Ray at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, in 1972. Subsequently, his research was published in the English Ceramic Circle Transactions. The image of the nursemaid brushing the boy’s hat has been identified as an adaptation of an engraving done in 1739 after Jean-Siméon Chardin’s painting La Gouvernante (The Governess; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa). The composition is reminiscent of Chardin’s genre scene The Good Education (see 85.18).


Provenance[Jonathan Horne Antiques Ltd., London]; purchased by MFAH, 2005.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
"JONATHAN HORNE" paper label on the underside

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Set of 39 Fireplace or Wall Tiles
c. 1750–1775
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware) with enamel
B.60.98.1-.39
scan from file photograph
c. 1690–1710
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.61.104.1-.22
Vue d’Optique/Die Zerstörung der Königlichen Bild Säule zu Neu Yorc (Optical View/Destruction of the Royal Statue in New York)
François Xavier Habermann
c. 1776
Etching and engraving with watercolor on laid paper
B.95.13
Set of Tiles
early 18th century
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.77.23.1-.32
Ointment Pot
c. 1700–1750
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.59.134
scan from file photograph
c. 1780–1800
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.59.99
Dinner Plate
c. 1740–1750
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.65
Dinner Plate
c. 1740
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.41.1
scan of file photograph
c. 1750–1760
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.55.25
Dinner Plate (one of a pair)
c. 1770
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.88.1
Dinner Plate (one of a pair)
c. 1770
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.88.2
Punch Bowl
c. 1770
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.89