Tiles
There are several series of fable tiles, and I have been lucky enough to have found eight varied tiles so far belonging, respectively, to three different series. I also have a set of photographs of Minton fable tiles in situ. Enjoy the tiles!
Berggren Trayner
1960? Four tiles, each marked as "Inspired by 18th Century Aesop's Fable Tiles." 6" x 6". Blue-and-white designs of BW, GGE, LM, and TH. Libertyville, IL: Berggren Trayner Corporation. Designs B-70 through B-73. $21 from Kay Hofman, Floodwood, MN, through Ebay, June, '00.
These tiles show lively modern designs inside a circle with a rope border enclosing four smaller circles at the compass points, with pleasant floral patterns in the corners. The wolf in the first tile has his jaws around the crying boy's leg! The ears are lopped over the sleep hare's head in the last tile. Each tile has felt backing, a cut-out hanger, and label suggesting some of the history of tile work. Each label claims that the tiles are hand screened. The TH tile has a separated corner that has been reattached.
Click on any tile to see it full-size.
John Cutting Original Tiles
1980? Ten original decorated tiles by John Cutting of Withersdale Tiles. Harleston, Norfolk, England. 6"x 6". Drawings and decoration by Cutting. In the original individual boxes. £160 from mattbrightman1 through Ebay, Sept., '21.
"Produced in a small country workshop with the finest available material." Alas, "The Fox and the Woodcutter" got cracked in shipping. Lovely designs!
English Delft
1760? One tile, FS, English Liverpool printed delftware tile by John Sadler. Slightly less than 5"x5". $104.01 from Rodney Harmic, Dover, DE, through Ebay, Feb., '00. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Transfer of printed design in black. "88" border. For some reason I find the image slightly hard to read. The stork has his beak in a big demijohn bottle. The fox on hind legs looks almost horse-like! Notice the shadow dish in the foreground. This tile is slightly smaller than nineteenth-century tiles I have found. The lower right corner is broken and repaired, and there are several small semi-circular chips around the front edge. I have kept some border in the scanner image of this tile to show the flaws around the edges. A great find!
Fève Tiles
2011 Royal Ceram Les Fables de La Fontaine Fèves Ceramique. Complete set. Between $3.51 and $4.10 for each of the twelve pieces from Genealogos on Ebay, July, '20.
This is a totally surprising set of miniature tiles. "Feves" in French are "fava beans," hidden in king cakes. I am surprised by the number of forms they have taken on. For fables, at least two forms are important: little figurines of well known fable characters and, in this case, miniature tiles of well known illustrations of La Fontaine's fables. These illustrations are in fact taken from Pellerin of Epinal, a long-time publisher in brilliant color of La Fontaine's fables. I was surprised to find this set for sale on Ebay, because I had not been aware of its existence. I am delighted with it! It is hard to know where to list it. I will list it exhaustively under "Tiles" but offer links to it in "feves" and "toys." Fables keep surprising me! I will offer here two overall views and then individual tiles.
Minton Hollins & Co.
1880? One tile, "The Sow and the Wolf," produced by Minton, Hollins and Company. Stoke on Trent. Slight fritting on the edges. 6" x 6". $82 from Chris Hawkins Antiques, UK, through Ebay, Feb., '02.
The design for this tile is apparently taken from the engraving done by Samuel Howitt—in fact page 14 of my copy of his 1811 A New Work of Animals Principally Designed from the Fables of Aesop, Gay, and Phaedrus. Though the piglets may not be clear, the sow's udder is. The wolf's pose is a surprisingly good mix of non-chalance and eagerness.
1880? One tile, "The Foxes and the Grapes," produced by Minton, Hollins and Company. Stoke on Trent. 6" x 6". $29.95 from Steward Hoins, Nordland, WA, through eBay, Oct., '03.
This particular illustration has long been a fascination for me. Is it likely that three foxes together would jump for grapes that they could not get? And would they concoct the same explanation of why they did not achieve what they wanted? And would they put up with each other's stories?
Maw Tiles
1880? Two tiles, GGE and MSA, done by Maw & Co. $75 each through Ebay from Howard Zar, Oct., '99. "The Doctors and the Dying Man" for $45 from UtterClutter1973 on Etsy, Dec., '20.
These tiles are done in a brown-and-white format. I have not yet succeeded in identifying the artist but the images seem so familiar! Each tile is signed "COM." So far I have three tiles in a series reported to include twelve tiles. The miller in MSA is so serious! For me the greatest interest in GGE lies in the surprise on the woman's face as she looks on."The Doctors" is a rather unusual fable to illustrate but absolutely true to experience, not just in medicine!
Mintons Brown Tiles
1875? Six-inch square tile titled "The Tortoise Which Wished To Learn To Fly." Manufactured by Minton's China Works, Stoke on Trent. Designed by John Moyr Smith. $86 from Artifacts Gallery and Custom Framing, Trenton, NJ, through Ebay, March, '99.
This is my first of Minton's series of twelve. Lovely brown and cream colors. The title is read in curious fashion, starting from nine o'clock and reading toward three o'clock, and then restarting from eight and reading toward four. The eagle looks serious and gruff, while the tortoise has his neck extended. Other birds fly elsewhere in the sky. The seller identifies the style as early Arts and Crafts.
1875? Six-inch square tile titled "The Dog and His Shadow." Manufactured by Mintons China Works, Stoke on Trent. Designed by John Moyr Smith. Framed. $150 from The Jewelsmith, Tempe, AZ, through Ebay, Jan., '00.
Again, lovely brown and cream colors. The title is read in curious fashion, starting from nine o'clock and reading toward three o'clock, and then restarting from eight and reading toward four. In the upper left and lower right, one needs to read going up; the key is to start as far left as possible and always move right. The dog has let go of his large piece of meat, the shadowy reflection of which falls just inside the image's circular frame. A railing on the bridge helps define the heavy horizontal framing of the scene, but leaves his tail above its line.
Fève Tiles
2011 Royal Ceram Les Fables de La Fontaine Fèves Ceramique. Complete set. Between $3.51 and $4.10 for each of the twelve pieces from Genealogos on Ebay, July, '20.
This is a totally surprising set of miniature tiles. "Feves" in French are "fava beans," hidden in king cakes. I am surprised by the number of forms they have taken on. For fables, at least two forms are important: little figurines of well known fable characters and, in this case, miniature tiles of well known illustrations of La Fontaine's fables. These illustrations are in fact taken from Pellerin of Epinal, a long-time publisher in brilliant color of La Fontaine's fables. I was surprised to find this set for sale on Ebay, because I had not been aware of its existence. I am delighted with it! It is hard to know where to list it. I will list it exhaustively under "Tiles" but offer links to it in "feves" and "toys." Fables keep surprising me! I will offer here two overall views and then individual tiles.
Minton Hollins & Co.
1880? One tile, "The Sow and the Wolf," produced by Minton, Hollins and Company. Stoke on Trent. Slight fritting on the edges. 6" x 6". $82 from Chris Hawkins Antiques, UK, through Ebay, Feb., '02.
The design for this tile is apparently taken from the engraving done by Samuel Howitt—in fact page 14 of my copy of his 1811 A New Work of Animals Principally Designed from the Fables of Aesop, Gay, and Phaedrus. Though the piglets may not be clear, the sow's udder is. The wolf's pose is a surprisingly good mix of non-chalance and eagerness.
1880? One tile, "The Foxes and the Grapes," produced by Minton, Hollins and Company. Stoke on Trent. 6" x 6". $29.95 from Steward Hoins, Nordland, WA, through eBay, Oct., '03.
This particular illustration has long been a fascination for me. Is it likely that three foxes together would jump for grapes that they could not get? And would they concoct the same explanation of why they did not achieve what they wanted? And would they put up with each other's stories?
Maw Tiles
1880? Two tiles, GGE and MSA, done by Maw & Co. $75 each through Ebay from Howard Zar, Oct., '99. "The Doctors and the Dying Man" for $45 from UtterClutter1973 on Etsy, Dec., '20.
These tiles are done in a brown-and-white format. I have not yet succeeded in identifying the artist but the images seem so familiar! Each tile is signed "COM." So far I have three tiles in a series reported to include twelve tiles. The miller in MSA is so serious! For me the greatest interest in GGE lies in the surprise on the woman's face as she looks on."The Doctors" is a rather unusual fable to illustrate but absolutely true to experience, not just in medicine!
Mintons Brown Tiles
1875? Six-inch square tile titled "The Tortoise Which Wished To Learn To Fly." Manufactured by Minton's China Works, Stoke on Trent. Designed by John Moyr Smith. $86 from Artifacts Gallery and Custom Framing, Trenton, NJ, through Ebay, March, '99.
This is my first of Minton's series of twelve. Lovely brown and cream colors. The title is read in curious fashion, starting from nine o'clock and reading toward three o'clock, and then restarting from eight and reading toward four. The eagle looks serious and gruff, while the tortoise has his neck extended. Other birds fly elsewhere in the sky. The seller identifies the style as early Arts and Crafts.
1875? Six-inch square tile titled "The Dog and His Shadow." Manufactured by Mintons China Works, Stoke on Trent. Designed by John Moyr Smith. Framed. $150 from The Jewelsmith, Tempe, AZ, through Ebay, Jan., '00.
Again, lovely brown and cream colors. The title is read in curious fashion, starting from nine o'clock and reading toward three o'clock, and then restarting from eight and reading toward four. In the upper left and lower right, one needs to read going up; the key is to start as far left as possible and always move right. The dog has let go of his large piece of meat, the shadowy reflection of which falls just inside the image's circular frame. A railing on the bridge helps define the heavy horizontal framing of the scene, but leaves his tail above its line.
Mintons Blue Tiles
1875? Twelve six-inch square tiles. Manufactured by Mintons China Works, Stoke on Trent. Designed by John Moyr Smith. The mark on each back includes "Walbrook, London." All twelve for $480 from Margery Northup through Fran's Estate Sales, Gilbert, AZ, March, 2001. Extra copies of FC and FS for $102.5 from Riverwalk, Hattiesburg, MS, through Ebay, Feb., '00.
These blue tiles surprised me when I first discovered them. I did not know that Minton did blue as well as brown tiles. They are apparently exactly the same in design. Are the patterns here as crisp and clear as on the brown tiles? The titles are read in curious fashion, starting from eleven o'clock and reading toward three o'clock, and then restarting from eight and reading toward four. Do the twelve make up a complete set? Click on any tile to see it enlarged.
Shapeshifter Wooden and Paper Tiles
2023? Shapeshifter wooden and paper tiles of "Baby's Own Aesop." 12 pieces. About 1¾" square. $10.43 from ShapeShifterUK, London, through Etsy, April, '23.
Now here is something different. Paper facsimiles of Walter Crane's illustrations in "Baby's Own Aesop" are glued onto original wooden backings 45 mm square. Well done! We show them here in threes.
Zanesville Tiles
1900? Five 6" square tiles of fable scenes from Walter Crane's Baby's Own Aesop. Manufactured by the Mosaic Tile Company in Zanesville, Ohio. $130 for MSA from Blue Boar Antiques at Baltimore Antiquarian Fair, Aug., '91. "Peacock's Complaint" for $98 from Eauctionz, Ontario, NY, through Ebay, Oct., '99. The other three for $49.99 each from Eauctionz at the same time.
