POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Stoneware tiles by Minton & Co

Object No. 92/171

These four, dust-pressed stoneware, encaustic decorated, Gothic Revival-style, floor tiles were designed by Augustus Welby Pugin and made by Minton and Co. in England in 1857. The Gothic Revival, a reaction against the classicism of Regency and Empire styles, was particularly popular between the 1830s and 1870s. It was one of a series of historical styles, which competed and sometimes mingled in architecture, decorative arts and interior design throughout the 1800s. Initially part of the religious and nationalist revivals, it drew on the enthusiasm for Europe's medieval past as opposed to the profit-centred industrial age. In England, the style was championed by the architect, A.W.N. Pugin, who admired the 'honest' structure, function and materials of medieval religious buildings. In the decorative arts, the spirit of the style, rather than strict principles and medieval models, tended to guide design. A.W.N. Pugin (1812-1852), played the key role in the introduction of encaustic tiles (where designs are formed by differently coloured clays) and Gothic patterns at Minton and Co. Minton's pressed-stoneware tiles in 'medieval' patterns and colours were widely used in many new buildings, influencing makers in Britain and abroad.