As I was updating my posts on George Jones majolica marks and Minton majolica tiles earlier this week it occurred to me that I had never done a post on George Jones majolica tiles. Well, there's a good reason for that: I have only seen a handful of George Jones tiles in the 28 years that I've been buying majolica. So, I thought that maybe I should do some research on these tiles to see what I could find out about them. Well, I found virtually nothing!
The only information I found was in the Nicholas Daws book Majolica, which has long been out of print. He illustrates several design drawings from the Wedgwood museum with the caption telling us that Jones did not compete much in the tile business. The only other info I could garner was from a passing mention in a judges' report relating to a review on George Jones' display of majolica at the 1879 International Exposition in Sydney Australia. In the judges' report of the display there was one line: "The majolica tiles are very good."
That's it... no other information! This left me with a dilemma: how do I do a blog post on majolica tiles without information?
The only way I know how--by letting the tiles speak for themselves.
Many of these images are from the auction of the Marilyn Karmason collection in 2005. Dr. Karmason knew quality and collected a number of Jones tiles. Some of these designs are adaptations of regular majolica designs in the GJ line. It's from these few examples we get some idea of how beautiful Jones tiles could be.
A border of these must have been breathtaking!
The only information I found was in the Nicholas Daws book Majolica, which has long been out of print. He illustrates several design drawings from the Wedgwood museum with the caption telling us that Jones did not compete much in the tile business. The only other info I could garner was from a passing mention in a judges' report relating to a review on George Jones' display of majolica at the 1879 International Exposition in Sydney Australia. In the judges' report of the display there was one line: "The majolica tiles are very good."
That's it... no other information! This left me with a dilemma: how do I do a blog post on majolica tiles without information?
The only way I know how--by letting the tiles speak for themselves.
A border of these must have been breathtaking!
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