Mintons was a major company in Staffordshire Pottery. Europe’s leading ceramic factory during the Victorian era. It was a leader in ceramic design, working in a number of different ceramic bodies.
Classical shapes with medieval designs and Art Nouveau borders were among many of their wonderful concoctions. The firm was a leading manufacturer of tiles and other architectural ceramics. The family continued to control the business until the mid-20th century. Mintons had the usual Staffordshire variety of company and trading names over the years and the products of all periods are generally referred to as either ‘Minton’, or ‘Mintons’, the mark used on many tiles as you can see in the photos below. Mintons Ltd was the company name from 1879 onwards.
The Tile & Design Catalogues for Mintons have been digitised and put online. Here you will find many examples of the inlayed/encaustic tile designs that were taken from ornamental Roman and Greek patterns, decorative borders, friezes and meanders such as: Running Dogs, Greek Keys, Palmette Frieze, Wavebands, and Guilloches.
The influence of the Roman and Greek motifs and patterns on Mintons tile designs can be found all around Scotland’s Historic buildings and domestic homes. Here we will focus on our conservation project at the Arlington Baths Club and the tile design inspiration used from the door threshold from the Erotes hunting Mosaic in Shatby, Egypt.
An example of Minton Tiling from Arlington Baths Club in Glasgow
As you can see from the photo, the door threshold has many patterns and designs used in Victorian Geometric Floors. Running Dogs, Waveband, Checker Board, and the Greek Key. But we want to focus on the two larger Motifs, in particular the one on the right.
Both these motifs have been used by Mintons and Maw & Co during the Victorian period and in different forms are still used by Craven Dunhills Jackenfield.
You can find this particular Minton 2 inch motif tile in the recently restored Minton floor in the Sauna room at the Arlington Baths in Glasgow. The Arlington Baths Club is the oldest of the very few surviving Victorian bath complexes left in the world, Founded in 1870.
The Arlington Baths Club was originally designed by architect John Burnett in 1870. Sir John James Burnet, was a Scottish architect who was noted for a number of prominent buildings in Glasgow and London. Burnet extended the practice south of the Border in 1903–1904 the Office of works selected Burnet to design the Edward VII Galleries at the British Museum in London.
