A most excellent tile, a big and bold floral
design executed in the most fabulous manner well
moulded and decorated with fabulous rich glazes.
This was a tremendous indeed historic
achievement for the time for few if any other
tile makers were producing embossed 6" x 12" and
if any were unlikely in multicolour certainly I
can think of none. The pattern is of a group
similar 6" x 6" designs were registered in 1888
and 1889 and confirmation of similar date comes
from a catalogue with several known registered
designs the latest of which is from 1889. Two
similar from 1888 are shown here
and here.
But not only the quality of the moulding, not
only the size which had tremendous manufacturing
difficulties, but the glazes. Reds, pinks
amongst the most difficult of colours yet
Godwins got it right and seem to be the first to
have done so in advance of Sherwin & Cotton
(who later were 'king of the reds') and other
glaze specialists like Marsden and Minton
Hollins.
Godwin & Hewitt came from nowhere in
terms of wall tile manufacture for no transfer
printed designs are known and went straight to
the top of the class with their majolica wall
tiles. They maintained this position into the
1900s for another pricelist from 1905 shows
their tiles the highest priced of the more
popular makers more than double the price of
some Boote tiles and 50% more than good quality
manufacturers such as Richards and Barratt.
12" x 6" tiles, in either orientation, have
not really captured the attention of collectors
no doubt in some part because they are few in
number. Whilst the size and shape is perfect for
certain applications and far preferable to
spreading a design over two tile there were
technical difficulties in manufacture, having
examined numerous examples uneven shrinkage
especially warping along the long axis was
common. Little used for walls or furniture they
were mostly found as centrepieces in fireplace
panels and also framed as works of art
especially figural designs from Sherwin &
Cotton and Craven Dunnill. They were very
expensive tiles in their day, whilst no price
lists have been found singling them out it can
be deduced from pricelists of fireplace panels
that they were in the order of four times the
price of a regular 6" x 6' tile.
Verso very clean, plain bars, unmarked.
