Tile
Date1756-1757
OriginEngland, Liverpool
MediumTin-glazed earthenware (delft / delftware)
Dimensions5" square
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1989-311
DescriptionSquare tile with canted sides. Blue tin glaze decorated in blue with a woodblock print of a woman and a man smoking a long stemmed pipe seated at a table within a rococo scroll cartouche inside an octagonal reserve; Louis XV border and quarter rosette corners.Label TextJohn Sadler of Liverpool began woodblock printing on tiles in August 1756, using blanks he acquired from local potteries. Sales were not brisk, so after about six months Sadler switched to printing from copper plates, which produced a sharper image on tiles. This scene and others from the series were adapted from a series of prints entitled Caffe, The und Tobac Zieretten by Johann Esaises Nilson of Augsburg. This series includes tiles both with and without the inner octagonal band, but all of them feature the Louis XV border and the quarter rosette corners. Hand painted versions of the same border are also in the CWF collection (accessions 1989-166 and 1989-167).
InscribedNone
MarkingsNone
ProvenanceJonathan Horne (Antiques) Ltd., London
