The Gothic Revival Legacy
Group of ecclesiastical floor tiles, designed by A. W. N. Pugin
1845-1851, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin
V&A Museum no. C.1A-1978
Earthenware, (encaustic)
Minton & Co., Stoke-Upon-Trent, England
How Encaustic Tiles Were Made by Hand 'Tessellated tiling' is an oxymoron, but in nineteenth century use, the term means tiles of a high quality. Dry pressing was used to achieve such high quality, and to emulate the best medieval floor tiles.
These tiles came in a variety of shapes and colors, built up from complex patterns. The more elaborate of them were 'encaustic' or 'inlaid' tiles, bearing designs of contrasting color.
Samuel Wright took out a patent for their manufacture in 1830. In 1833, Wright's tiles were praised in Loudon's Encyclopedia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture. However they do not appear to have been a commercial success.
In about 1835, Wright sold his equipment and stock in hand to Herbert Minton, potter of Stoke-Upon-Trent, and negotiated royalty agreements, not only with Minton, but with another manufacturer, Walter Chamberlain. Chamberlain may have begun manufacture as early as 1836-7. Minton was more concerned to achieve perfect results, and was slower.
By 1841, Minton was able to undertake a major commission for the restoration of the pavement of Temple Church, London, using twenty-four patterns, based mainly upon examples in the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey.
Such tiles became commercially viable only in the early 1840's, after the Birmingham engineer Richard Prosser developed a system of pressing pulverized feldspar and clay between steel discs to reduce it to a quarter of its original volume. This produced a very hard and compact material, which was at first used in the manufacture of buttons.
In Wright's system, the body of the encaustic tile was made by pressing a thick clay in a mold. The mold created an indentation where the inlaid pattern was to be. A clay of a contrasting color and a softer consistency, more like honey, was poured into the indentation. The surface was scraped to leave a clean division between the two, and the tile was baked.
By 1844 Wright's patent was due to expire. He obtained an extension of seven years, which he then sold in equal shares to Herbert Minton and Fleming St John, of Chamberlain.
