wall tile

William Frend de Morgan 1839 - 1917

Summary

Public: Four square plastic-bodied earthenware tiles decorated in hand-transferred underglaze 'Persian' colours with a design of blue fruit and green foliage. Private: Four square plastic-bodied earthenware tiles, coated with white slip and decorated with hand-transferred underglaze 'Persian' colours: black, pink, green, dark blue and light blue. The design consists of a dark blue pineapple fruit with pale blue details and surrounded by green foliage. There is a blue flower bud on the foliage and a pink petal in each corner. These tiles all have the same one of the six variations of the design, although the pineapple body on one tile is a paler blue than on the other three. On the front of one of the tiles, in a corner, an original circular printed label is still attached and indicates that the tiles were retailed by William Morris and Company, and that at some point the price of the tiles was reduced from 60/- to 30/- (per dozen?).