- Museum number
- 1980,0206.1-6
- Description
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Six earthenware tiles, dust-pressed cream body, transfer-printed in blue, black and brown under a clear glaze. Each tile features interlaced designs in the corners and depicts characters or scenes from Tennyson's 'Idylls of the King' within circular medallions, including Lynette, Etarre, Isolt, Elaine, Gareth, and Excalibur. Maker's mark hidden at the back by the frame. Signed on the front with transfer-printed facsimile signature.
- Production date
- 1876-1880
- Dimensions
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Length: 15.30 centimetres
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Width: 15.30 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- These tiles were designed by John Moyr Smith as a series of twelve scenes, pattern no. 1465, wihch were introduced around 1875-76. The original signed designs for these tiles are in the Minton Archive, folio no. 1820. For illustrations and a discussion of this set, see Stapleton 2002, pp. 74-75.
Moyr Smith was a pupil of Christopher Dresser and designed several series of picture tiles for Minton, many of which are based on classic literature.
The tile with 'Etarre' appears as no. 1465 G, sheet 2 in a Minton catalogue of c 1885 (reprinted by Richard Dennis Publications, Shepton Beauchamp, 1996). Other tiles from the series, in different colourways, appear as no. 1523 G, sheet 2 and no. 1677 G, sheet 20 in the same catalogue.
Several tiles from this series are illustrated in Lockett 1979, colour plate IV; plate 27, nos. 155-56; and plate 28, no. 157-58. See also Stoke 1984, nos. 206-7.
John Moyr Smith illustrated the designs for the Tennyson series, including the design for the 'Elaine' tile, in 'Decoration', the journal he edited during the 1880s. For an illustration of the design for 'Elaine', see 'Decoration', October 1881, p. 37. For other designs from the series, see 'Decoration', October 1881, p. 37; December 1881, p. 45 and March 1883.
For a trivet, jardiniere and fireplace incorporating these tiles, see Stapleton 2002, p. 43 and p. 47. Tiles from this set have been discovered beneath the wallpaper at the Stoke Library, see Alan Swale, 'Conservation & Site News', Tiles & Architectural Ceramics Society Newsletter (June 2001), p. 3.
For a brief biography on John Moyr Smith, see Austwick 1980 pp.105-6. Pl. 279 of the same publication has an image of a tile with 'Idylls of the King'.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated titles
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Associated Title: Idylls of the King
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Associated Title: Tales of King Arthur
- Acquisition date
- 1980
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1980,0206.1-6
