wall tile

Maw and Company, Benthall Works

Summary

Public: Sixteen dust-pressed earthenware tiles, of which fourteen are square and two rectangular, with design of birds, urns, flowers and foliage printed underglaze in brown. Private: Sixteen dust-pressed earthenware tiles, screen-printed underglaze with brown design in the style of Walter Crane. Two tiles are rectangular border tiles with double parallel lines along each long edge and a design of round twelve-petalled flowers and swirling stylised stems. Of the fourteen square tiles, four have a design of swirling foliage, flowers and the head of an heraldic-style eagle in the bottom left corner, facing to the right; four tiles have the same design in mirror image; three have a design of swirling foliage, flowers, the right half of a classical urn and a standing bird on the right facing to the right; three have the same design in mirror image. Tiles with mirror-image designs fit together in pairs, while the two different designs fit together one above the other. Tile backs: the rectangular tiles have a raised grid of four squares by nine, with a lightly impressed circle; one square tile has a broad impressed circle; the rest have the raised outlines of three concentric squares, cut across at two corners by four parallel diagonal lines.