{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O77770"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O77770/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PC3247/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PC3247/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PC3247","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AM7896","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC3248","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC3253","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC3250","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC3249","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC3251","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PC3252","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AT5842","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AM8126","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O77770/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O77770","accessionNumber":"926-1852","objectType":"Jardinière","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"<b>Object Type</b><br>This plant pot and another in the V&A's collection (museum no. 925-1852), composed of large tiles set in gilded iron frames, were of two of several displayed by A.W.N. Pugin in the Mediaeval Court, part of the Crystal Palace allotted to and designed by him.  The plant pots differ from each other in design and size, but they were both prototypes with tiles cut to fit the frames, specially created for the Exhibition. Since they are now the only ones known, it is likely that few if any others were made.<br><br><b>People</b><br>Pugin probably met Herbert Minton in 1840. Minton was keen to manufacture Pugin's encaustic floor tiles. Pugin met John Hardman Jr, who made the frames, in 1837. Hardman's father had been a button manufacturer in Birmingham, but Pugin steered Hardman Jr towards making iron, brass and silverwork as well as stained-glass windows to his designs. Pugin was on the Design Purchase Committee to buy objects from the Great Exhibition for the School of Design. Naturally, he selected his pots as instructive examples of good domestic product design.<br><br><b>Materials & Making</b><br>Pugin was keen to combine good design with efficient modern manufacturing methods. The tiles were made by Prosser's Patent, an economical new method of compressing powdered clay to produce a good, even surface. The tiles were printed by a process resembling wood-block printing. Pugin was familiar with chromolithographic book illustration and encouraged two Clerkenwell printers, F.W.M. Collins and Alfred Reynolds, to experiment with tiles and tablewares. On 14th March 1848, they patented their method of transfer-printing with oil-based inks and stone or metal plates. Herbert Minton bought the patent in 1849. This system was far more efficient than hand-colouring but did not really catch on until the 1870s.","physicalDescription":"Jardinière, plant pot holder, earthenware tiles with block printed decoration, gilded cast iron mounts.  The floriated decoration on the tiles includes fleurs-de-lis and quatrefoils.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"A.W. Pugin","id":"A8761"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"AAT25190"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Minton","id":"A9175"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":"tiles"},{"name":{"text":"John Hardman & Co.","id":"A9144"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":"metalwork"}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Printed earthenware, mounted in gilt cast iron","categories":[{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Tiles","id":"THES48884"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2025PC3247","2006AM7896","2025PC3248","2025PC3253","2025PC3250","2025PC3249","2025PC3251","2025PC3252","2006AT5842","2006AM8126"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"122F","id":"THES49220"},"free":"","case":"PL3","shelf":"44","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Jardiniere","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Stoke-on-Trent","id":"x29185"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"tiles"},{"place":{"text":"Birmingham","id":"x28748"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"metalwork"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1850","earliest":"1850-01-01","latest":"1850-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""},{"date":{"text":"ca.1851","earliest":"1846-01-01","latest":"1855-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"29.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"26","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"26","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions checked: Measured; 21/06/1999 by LH","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Designed by A.W.N. Pugin (born in London 1812, died in Ramsgate, Kent, 1852); tiles made by Minton & Co., Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire; metalwork by John Hardman & Co., Birmingham\r\n\r\nFrom Ornament Gallery text:\r\n\"A key figure is the Gothic Revival of the mid-nineteenth century, Pugin struggles to combine historical accuracy with a bold simplicity. This piece was shown in the Great Exhibition: the floriated decoration on the tiles includes fleurs-de-lis (stylised lilies) and quatrefoils (motifs like rosettes with four petals).\"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Jardinière, earthenware tiles with block printed decoration, gilded cast iron mounts, designed by Pugin, made by Minton and Co. (tiles) and John Hardman & Co. (metalwork), England, about 1851","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Atterbuy, Paul. <u>The Ceramic Designs of A.W.N. Pugin</u>.  English Ceramics Circle Transactions, Volume 23, 2012, pp163-174, illustrated fig. 10, 169p as an example of the 'New Press' method of colour printing ceramics developed by W. M. Collins and A. Reynolds.  'The Collins and Reynolds process took a while to become widely established, partly because it was expensive and partly because the ceramic industry was innately conservative but the great pioneers were Minton and Pugin, who saw at once the process's potential for colourful flat pattern printing onto tiles.  The first use seems to have been for wall tiles in the Smoking Room at the Palace of Westminster, and for large tiles inset into metal-framed jardinières...'"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Exhibition: 'Makers of Modern Gothic: A.W.N. Pugin and John Hardman Jr', Julie and Robert Breckman Galleries, 3rd February - 26th October 2025"}],"production":"Tiles made by Minton & Co., metalwork by John Hardman & Co.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"fleurs-de-lis","id":"AAT9966"},{"text":"quatrefoils","id":"AAT9784"},{"text":"floriation","id":"AAT10135"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Exhibition: 'Makers of Modern Gothic: A.W.N. Pugin and John Hardman Jr', Julie and Robert Breckman Galleries, V&amp;A, 3rd February - 26th October 2025\n\n'Flowerpot for the Great Exhibition'\r\nAbout 1851\n\r\nHerbert Minton made the tiles for this pot using Prosser's Patent, a new method of compressing powdered clay into tiles to produce a high-quality, even surface. Pugin encouraged the development of the technique used to print on the tiles. To make the flowerpots commercially viable Pugin, prompted by Minton, asked Hardman to reduce the cast-iron elements as 'the immense weight is sadly against the sale'. \n\nGilded cast iron, earthenware tiles \nDesigned by A.W.N. Pugin, manufactured\r\nby John Hardman &amp; Co., Birmingham\r\nand Minton &amp; Co., Stoke-on-Trent\r\nMuseum no. 926-1852","date":{"text":"03/02/2025","earliest":"2025-02-03","latest":"2025-02-03"}},{"text":"British Galleries:\nThese plant stands were designed by  A.W.N. Pugin for the Medieval Court, one of the most popular areas of the Exhibition. Pugin collaborated with Minton & Co. on the design and production of many tiles in the Gothic style.","date":{"text":"27/03/2003","earliest":"2003-03-27","latest":"2003-03-27"}}],"partNumbers":["926-1852"],"accessionNumberNum":"926","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1852,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LR0281","2019LP8339","2019LP6895","2019LP3369","2019LV7657","2019LV5575"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-10-27","recordCreationDate":"2003-03-27","availableToBook":false}}