(c) 2023 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Castle Acre Tiles: Dragon of Castle Acre

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

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

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 numberC30c21.3

eMuseum ID728838

Other NumberMC59

EmbARK ObjectID26558

Previous NumberC30c21.c

TMS Source ID10253

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)
Cleota Reed. Henry Chapman Mercer and the Moravian Pottery and tile Works (Philadelphia, 1980) p. 198, no. 60
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

ProvenanceNotesProbably purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, Doylestown, Pennsylvania on 14 June 1901 for $898 (for 1,722 square feet of tiles).