(c) 2023 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Little Brick Tiles

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

Dimensions3 x 2 in. (7.6 x 5.1 cm)

ClassificationsArchitectural Elements

Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Accession numberC14c3.1

eMuseum ID720062

Other NumberMC70

EmbARK ObjectID26594

Previous NumberC14c6

TMS Source ID10289

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 in Doylestown, Pennsylvania produced Mercer’s unique designs by molding tiles from handmade casts and applying slips and glazes for firing.

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. 199, no. 70.
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 13 May 1901 for $31 (for roughly 31 feet of tiles).