Ceramic tiles have been used in the decoration of walls and floors for over 1000 years, but the fireplace tile was first introduced in the Georgian era – the fireplace was fully tiled, and then the fire basket laid on the tiled hearth.
It was in the Victorian age that tiles for fireplaces became very popular. Between 1860 and 1880, ceramic tiles were placed in ‘tile sliders’ and provided a decorative frame at either side of the cast-iron fireplace – this was the sole purpose of the ceramic tile – they were purely decorative. In time, fully tiled fireplaces became popular.
Fire tiles were very popular at the end of the nineteenth century, and many Victorian potters employed a large labour force to mass-produce ceramic fireplace tiles cheaply, especially in Staffordshire. A number of methods were used to decorate tiles: plain glazes were made from white lead; flint; china clay and china stone, and these were ground together to make the basic glaze – the colours were formed by adding metal oxides to this.
Clear glaze was applied over colours to enhance and protect the tile, and also added to patterned tiles for the same reason. Some tiles were hand-painted: a design was taken from a book and pricked through onto paper, then this was in turn transferred onto the tile using charcoal and coloured in.
Two Liverpool printers named Sadler and Green invented transfer printing, a method of decorating tiles in the Victorian era. With this method, an engraved copper plate was covered with ink, and then tissue paper was pressed onto the plate. The tissue paper was then used to transfer the pattern onto the fireplace tile. Tile-sets that formed a pattern at either side of the fireplace were very much in demand during the Edwardian era, but few of these survive today: if one was damaged, then the whole set was unusable and thus disposed of. However, there are excellent reproductions of Edwardian fire tiles widely available.
The Art Nouveau period saw the introduction of tube-lining, a method of placing raised lines onto the fireplace tile. These raised lines formed a pattern and separated the various colours used on a tile.
Between the two World Wars, fully tiled fireplaces came back into vogue. The dark Victorian colours of red, green and blue were replaced with tiles in all shades of beige, the fashionable colour of the time. Cream tiles were also popular, in both plain and mottled finishes.
Today, there are many different kinds of fireplace tile, in all colours and finishes. Original antique tiles are available, but these are expensive. Excellent reproductions are available, with the best ones hand-produced according to traditional methods. In respect of tiling the modern fireplace, almost any ceramic or slate tile is suitable.
One Response to “Fireplace Tile”
[...] Fireplace tiles first made an appearance in the Georgian era – the whole fireplace opening was often tiled and a fire-basket would be placed in the recess on the tiled hearth. The industrial revolution brought the mass production of ceramic tiles and thus hand-painted tiles became a characteristic feature of the tiled Victorian fireplace. [...]