(c) 2022 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Castle Acre Tiles: Vicar of Stowe, Diagonal

designer Henry C. Mercer (Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1856 - 1930, Doylestown, Pennsylvania)

manufacturer Moravian Pottery and Tile Works (established Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1898)

Date1901

Place MadeDoylestown, Pennsylvania, United States, North America

MediumGlazed ceramic

Dimensions4 x 4 in. (10.2 x 10.2 cm)

ClassificationsArchitectural Elements

Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Accession numberC21c6.6

eMuseum ID728207

Previous NumberC21c6.f

Other NumberMC182

EmbARK ObjectID26543

TMS Source ID10238

Last Updated8/9/24

Status

Not on view

Web CommentaryIsabella Stewart Gardner oversaw all the details of the Museum during its design and construction, 1899–1902. She collaborated with the tile maker and owner of the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, Henry Chapman Mercer, on the galleries’ custom floors. Ceramicists and trained laborers produced Mercer’s unique designs by molding tiles from handmade casts and applying slips and glazes for firing. His earliest notable series, Castle Acre, drew inspiration from medieval tiles in Europe and can be seen throughout the Gardner Museum.

BibliographyNotesGilbert Wendell Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935) p. 87. (as made by Henry Chapman Mercer of Doylestown, Pennsylvania)
Christina Nielsen et. al. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: A Guide (New Haven, 2017), p. 67, ill.
Maggie Goldstein, "Henry Mercer's Moravian Pottery and Tile Works at Fenway Court," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 23 January 2024, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/henry-mercers-moravian-pottery-and-tile-works-fenway-court

ProvenanceNotesPurchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, Doylestown, Pennsylvania on 9 December 1901 for $551 (for about 4,000 tiles).