Three Antique Tiles of Walter Crane Images
Walter Crane (1845 – 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He was
part of the Arts and Crafts movement and produced an array of paintings, illustrations,
children’s books, ceramic tiles and other decorative arts. The tiles you see on the left
are from his illustrations for the book “the Baby’s Opera” 1878. The book can be viewed in
it’s entirety HERE Thanks to Project Gutenburg.
These tiles, in my opinion, represent good, better, and best in collecting. The
top tile, Lady Loved a Swine, is a transfer print. These transfers can be seen on English
as well as American tiles from companies such as AET, Mosaic and Wheeling. Very colorful
and true to Crane’s illustrations, they are fairly plentiful, with the desirability lying in the images on each tile
The second tile, Jack and Jill, is totally hand painted on a Minton blank. Much more
uncommon, but being English, not the top collectible for Americans
the bottom tile, Ye Good King Arthur, was hand glazed in the Arts and Crafts era on a thick
faience clay body at the American Encaustic Tile Company. Not many of these were produced, making
this the most desirable of the Walter Crane tiles to collect. Which is your favorite?
These tiles and more can be found at BungalowBILL.com
