Style:
Heraldic A superb pair of heraldic eagles (or
griffins) painted in gold lustre on ruby lustre
shield cartouches and surrounded by grape vines
the foliage and fruit also painted in lustres,
all set against a cobalt blue ground on hand
relief moulded biscuit. These tiles designed by
Gordon Forsyth for Pilkington's Tile &
Pottery Company are well known but rather scarce
and rarely found as a pair. An example of the design in red and gold is
found in a contemporary Pilkington catalogue
priced at three shillings, these with blue would
have been priced a little more. For context at
this time a skilled pottery worker earned about
ten shillings per week, Jessie Jones a noted
decorator of lustrewares at Pilkington's earned
seven shillings per week when she started in
1907. They were bought
together and it is nice to see them as a pair as
they don't often come along paired but we may
consider splitting. A
single tile was sold at Bonhams. some years
ago. The British Museum has one here
and notes: This design is very close to signed
work by Gordon Forsyth, see for exmaple, a tall
vase with similar heraldic lion, illustrated in
A.J. Cross, 'Pilkington's Royal Lancastian
Pottery and Tiles', London 1980, p. 35, col.pl.
XXII. Tiles of this design formed part of the
fireplace exhibited by Pilkington's at the
Franco-British Exhibition in Paris of 1908, see
Cross 1980, pp. 36-7, pls. 38A and 39. Being richly coloured and embossed and lustre
decorated the tiles were a challenge to get good
images of. We usually scan everything so that
there is consitency in the lighting and so
customers will appreciate the colours are truly
represented especially the rarer colours which
we particularly seek out. The images above are
photographs near a window with an overcast sky,
scanned images are shown below.
Condition: Perfect
Price: £850 (approx $1147)
Stock number: 05910A/B
Technique: Embossed and
lustre
Maker: Pilkington
Designer: Gordon Forsyth
Dimensions: 6"
x 6"
Date: 1910
(circa)
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