Tilemania: Collecting and copying 'Persian' tiles in the late nineteenth century Dr Melanie Gibson, The Gingko Library

Event details

York Islamic Art Circle

The widespread use of glazed wall-tiles in England in the second half of the nineteenth century came out of the industrialization of the manufacturing process together with a new awareness of the importance of sanitation. From the 1870s onwards  tiles were used for the interiors of hospitals, railway stations and ships (the hammam of the Titanic was lined with  ‘Iznik’  tiles) , as well as  smoking rooms in houses and pubs.

Several ceramic manufacturers were in the vanguard of this change of taste, producing hundreds of different patterns to satisfy the new ‘tile mania’. This lecture will focus on the designs of  Minton Hollins & Co.,  the Pilkington Tile and Pottery Company and the craftsman-designer William de Morgan, three companies that produced so-called ‘Persian’ tiles.

Dr Melanie Gibson

Dr Melanie Gibson is Executive Trustee of the Gingko Library and Editor of the Gingko Library Art Series. She also acts as convenor for the Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art at SOAS, London University. Her research focuses on the ceramics and glass of the Islamic world and she is also interested in plaster, ceramic and metal sculpture from the region. Her forthcoming publications include essays on Timurid ceramics and medieval animal sculpture for two volumes in the Khalili Collection of Islamic Art series.