A Brief History of Transfer Printed Tiles by Wendy Harvey

A Brief History of Transfer Printed Tiles By Wendy Harvey

ass produced or a glue bat. The im- Mtransfer printed age could then be fired tiles trace their history at a relatively low tem- to the tiles first pro- perature for a very brief duced by printer John time (15 minutes). This Sadler and his partner method had the obvi- Guy Green in the year ous advantage of has- 1756. On a sworn af- tening production both fidavit Sadler states in decoration and fir- “without the aid or as- ing. However, since the sistance of any person decoration was placed or persons, did, within atop the tin glaze it was the space of six hours, subsequently much less to wit, betwixt the hours durable and subject to of nine in the morning wear. and three in the after- noon of the same day, The first decorations print upwards of twelve that Sadler and Green Fireplace Surround w/ Sadler & Green Tiles. hundred earthenware produced were reminis- tiles of different patterns, at Liverpoole [sic] aforesaid, and cent of Dutch tiles. Since there was huge demand for blue which as these depondents have heard and believe, were painted Dutch tiles originating from Liverpool as well as more in number and better and neater, than one hundred from Holland, it is easy to see that this was an obvious skillful pot painters could have painted in the like space of attempt to compete in a well established marketplace. In time in the common and usual way.” (Van Lemmon p.127) fact, a certificate by Thomas Shaw and Samuel Gilbody, at- tached to the Sadler affidavit, states, “We are also assured Using available handmade white tin glazed delftware that the Dutch may by this improvement be considerably tiles, John Sadler applied the newly developed method undersold.” (Van Lemmon p.128) The original Dutch de- of printing on ceramics to tiles. This printing method al- sign “copies” were soon abandoned and tile designs in- lowed for an image engraved onto a copper plate or cut cluded romantic themes, genre scenes, ships, fables and from a wood block to be transferred to a tile using paper fashionable society encapsulated by elaborate or scrolled

2 Examples of early 19th Century Sadler and Green Tiles.

TCC Bulletin 17 health following the cholera epidemics of 1831-32 and 1848-49. These epidemics provided the impetus for changes in the sewage system and the first public sewers were built in 1858- 1874 replacing open cesspools. Up- per class homes had indoor toilets and bathrooms by mid century and most homes had indoor plumbing by the end of the century.

Believing that the odors in the air carried diseases, reformers began ad- vocating for building with non-porous surfaces just as city planners were ad- vocating for non-flammable building materials following several devastating city fires, including one at the Palace of Westminster in 1834. Doctors and architects campaigned for the use of tiles as practical, beautiful, and wash- The Crystal Palace, London, site of the Great Exposition of 1851: able for use in the new bathrooms, Minton tiles featured there were seen by 10s of thousands of English kitchens, sculleries and food shops. consumers. Style advocates and trendsetters urged the use of tiles around the fireplace. and twisted borders were produced. transfer printed tiles until the middle The tiles were printed in black, red or of the nineteenth century. Desire for tiles was fostered in the brown as the traditional Dutch cobalt rapidly increasing middle classes by their exposure to the Great Exposition blue oxide proved difficult to use on The New Age of copper plates. of the Works of Industry of All Nations The business expanded and Sadler transfer printed tiles of 1851. Championed by Prince Al- and Green began a partnership with bert, the exhibition building covered Josiah Wedgwood and started fairly Beginning in 1828, Herbert Minton, 700,000 square feet and hosted 17,000 extensive decoration of Wedgwood’s son of Thomas Minton founder of the exhibitors from countries as far away creamware even at the expense of firm, became interested in encaustic as China. Minton displayed a huge se- their own tile making. Over the next tile production. His interest coincid- years, others makers started produced with a renewed interest in Gothic tion of printed tiles and, after 12 years, architecture and technological inno- Wedgwood started his own facility for vations. Herbert had the foresight to printing creamware and tiles. anticipate the market for tiles and the Transfer printed Sadler and Green wealth and business savvy to do so. tiles were not only used in England, Extolling the virtues of tile, he used they were also exported. Fine colo- his club connections with prominent nial homes in America used Sadler and architects and Prince Albert to create Green tiles around the fireplaces and demand and cachet. Following the more examples of Sadler and Green club demonstration, Queen Victoria tiles remain in situ here than in Eng- and Prince Albert used Minton encaus- land. As anticipated by Shaw and Gil- tic floor tiles in their home on the Isle body, Sadler and Green’s use of trans- of Wight. Building on his successes, fer printing contributed to the demise Minton soon expanded his production of the British delftware industry. into transfer printed and relief wall Transfer printed tin-glazed tile use tiles. He was quickly joined by other declined in the 1780’s. This may have tile producers. been due to changing fashion or the Portrait of Herbert Minton, Concurrent with the significant tendency for the tiles to craze when who’s foresight brought the Min- mechanical advances that made mass exposed to heat or the previously men- ton Pottery to the forefront of production of tiles possible, there was tion lack of durability. This decline in English tile production. tin-glazed tile use signaled the end of an increased awareness of disease and

18 TCC Bulletin lection of wall and floor tiles at the exhibition. One third of the population of Great Britain at the time, 6.2 million people, attended. They were brought to the exposition from the countryside by the newly constructed railroads which made transportation faster and safer. Telegraphs and newspapers spread the excitement and wonders of the exhibition throughout the world.

England was the most powerful nation in Europe in 1850 and exerted enormous worldwide influence. Eng- lish building throughout the Empire and world expansion created a ready Transfer decorated tiles from the last quarter of the 19th Century. marketplace for tiles. Steamships en- sured quick and dependable transport In 1876, the Philadelphia Exhibi- Partial Bibliography: of goods. As early as 1838, the use of tion included elaborate displays of Atterbury, P. and Batkin, M., The steamships had reduced the travel time English tiles from 15 tile and 13 terra Dictionary of Minton Suffolk 1990 to cross the Atlantic to a mere 19 days. cotta companies. These impressive Austwick, J.&B. The Decorated Tile displays of tiles gave rise to the Ameri- London 1980 Transfer printing which used one can tile industry and by 1885 there Barnard, J. Victorian Ceramic Tiles color and the similar block printing were at least 25 American tile produc- London 1972 process which used many colors en- ers. Drawing on the expertise of the Batkin, M. Wedgwood Ceramics abled a wide variety of patterns and British tile industry, most of the Ameri- 1846-1959 London 1981 design subjects to be produced effi- can companies were started with Eng- Herbert,T.& Huggins,K. The Deco- ciently and economically. Minton and lish potters, artists, and ceramicists, rative Tile London 1995 the other tile manufactures employed and initial American tiles were similar Lewis, G. A Collector’s History of both in-house and free lance artists or identical copies of English produc- English Pottery Suffolk 1992 to design and/or engrave scenes both tion. Very quickly, however, the U.S. Lockett, T. Collecting Victorian Tiles historic and imagined. Artists drew tile makers developed unique products Suffolk 1979 upon interests of the era such as the and glazes. The American tile indus- Van Lemmon, H. Delftware Tiles natural world, history, ancient civiliza- try was a significant one until about London 1997 tions, literature, and science. Tile out- 1929, but very few transfer printed Van Lemmon, H. Tiles, 1,000 Years put during the last half of the century tiles were ever produced here. of Architectural Decoration London was extensive and both the quality and 1993 quantity produced remains unrivaled to this day.

English Tiles in America

America proved to be a fertile marketplace for English tiles for the same reasons they were used in England, and many English tile companies had offices and/or representatives in major U.S. cities. American fashion for tiles was, in part, created by the writings of Andrew Jackson Downing, a prominent American landscape designer, writer and advocate of the Gothic Re- vival style in the U.S. In 1850, he pub- lished an extremely influential book entitled; “The Architecture of Country Mintons Tile display at the 1876 Philadelphia (Centennial) Exposition, Houses.” In his book, Downing advo- one of a number of English tile displays credited with igniting the cated the extensive use of tiles. American tile industry, which thrived until 1929.

TCC Bulletin 19