Ceramics home: Decorative tiles.

Decorative tiles

In the early medieval period tiles were largely used in religious establishments - churches and monastaries. The tiles were handmade, moulded to give a design, and glazed. The tiles were very thick, as they were used as floor rather than wall tiles.

Ceramic tiles were also used to line stoves designed to heat the rooms of large houses. These stoves were a status symbol, and the tiles that covered them were therefore highly decorated. The tiles show human and animal figures, floral designs, and also the crests or initials of the house owner. They were usually glazed with a green glaze.

From the end of the sixteenth century, tin-glazed wall tiles were being produced. The tin glaze gave an opaque white colour, which could be painted with a variety of bright colours, although chiefly blue. The tiles were sometimes painted to give larger panels, making up a large picture. Individual tiles frequently feature biblical scenes.

Featured types

Medieval floor tiles (1066 - 1485)

Stove tiles (1500 - 1700)

Tin-glazed tiles (1570 - 1850)

Related objects

There are 327 related objects.

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41.3/1 tile. 1801-1900	34.285/8 tile. 1501-1700	NN15781 tile; maiolica tile. 1500-1550	NN13316c tile. 1851-1910
NN13316b tile. 1851-1910	NN13316a tile. 1851-1910	L223/4 tile; maiolica tile. 1500-1550	L223/3 tile; maiolica tile. 1500-1550
L223/2 tile. 1500-1550	L223/1 tile. 1500-1550	A26654 tile. 1801-1900	A20903 tile. 1601-1635
41.3/7 tile. 1881-1907	A24268 tile; heraldic wall tile. 1921	87.43 tile; roof tile. Medieval; 13th-15th century	A25232 tile; roof tile. Early Medieval; mid-late 12th century
24403 tile; imbrex. Roman; mid 1st-2nd century	P231 tile; tegula. Roman; mid 1st-2nd century	NN24833 tile.	23119 tile.
23115 tile.	23116 tile.	23120 tile.	23117 tile.

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