Tile, 6 x 6 inches. Black transfer. Raised maker's mark for Josiah Wedgwood. Helen J.A. Miles (fl. 1860-1893) designed several series of tiles for Wedgwood in the 1870s, one of which was "Months." The tiles were so popular that Wedgwood eventually used the tile patterns on plates, along with borders from some of their well-known dinner services. The month depicted here is January and that month can be seen printed on the bottom right. The scene consists of two girls in dresses holding hands in a room with potted orange trees on either side and a curtain draped on the right.
Josiah Wedgwood was born in Burslem, Staffordshire, on July 12, 1730, into a family with a long tradition as potters. At the age of nine, after the death of his father, he worked in his family's pottery. In 1759 he set up his own pottery works in Burslem. There he produced a highly durable cream-colored earthenware that so pleased Queen Charlotte that in 1762 she appointed him royal supplier of dinnerware. From the public sale of Queen's Ware, as it came to be known, Wedgwood was able, in 1768, to build near Stoke-on-Trent a village, which he named Etruria, and a second factory equipped with tools and ovens of his own design. At first only ornamental pottery was made in Etruria, but by 1773 Wedgwood had concentrated all his production facilities there. During his long career Wedgwood developed revolutionary ceramic materials, notably basalt and jasperware. After Wedgwood's death in Etruria on January 3, 1795, his descendants carried on the business, which still produces many of his designs.
