Pugin's majolica stove tiles

Jan 7, 2022
2 min read

Updated: 5 days ago

Majolica tiles of five different designs manufactured by Minton & Co. for the ceramic stove at the Great Exhibition of 1851. The stove was the centrepiece of the Medieval Court and entirely designed by Augustus Pugin. The cast-iron stove itself was manufactured by Hardman & Co of Birmingham.

Update 09/03/25: Since this blog post was written, I have managed to find four of Pugin's original designs in the Minton Archive, and it seems that one design was not used (centre below).

Also, I have tried to locate as many of these Great Stove tiles as I can find online. My total so far is 46 (see image and key/index below).

KEY	SOURCE	WEBSITE	IMAGE	REFERENCE

A1	Mark Graham Collection
A2	Mark Graham Collection
A3	Mark Graham Collection
A4	Mark Graham Collection
B1	Leonard Joel Auctions, Australia	https://www.lot-art.com/auction-lots/A-POLYCHROME-GLAZED-AND-PIERCED-TERRACOTTA-STOVE-TILE-DESIGNED-BY-AWN-PUGIN-MANUFACTURED-BY-MINTON-and-CO/340-polychrome_glazed-25.8.20-joel	https://gcp-la8-storage-cdn.lot-art.com/public/upl/40/A-POLYCHROME-GLAZED-AND-PIERCED-TERRACOTTA-STOVE-TILE-DESIGNED-BY-AWN-PUGIN-MANUFACTURED-BY-MINTON-and-CO_1597059161_604.jpg
C1	Victoria & Albert Museum	https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O280624/tile-aw-pugin/	https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HX1433/full/735,/0/default.jpg
C2	Victoria & Albert Museum	https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O280624/tile-aw-pugin/	https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CC4983/full/735,/0/default.jpg
C3	Victoria & Albert Museum	https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O280625/tile-aw-pugin/	https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EC3985/full/735,/0/default.jpg
C4	Victoria & Albert Museum	https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O280623/tile-aw-pugin/	https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EC3984/full/735,/0/default.jpg
D	National Gallery of Victoria, Australia	https://content.ngv.vic.gov.au/retrieve.php?size=1280&type=image&vernonID=145322	https://content.ngv.vic.gov.au/retrieve.php?size=1280&type=image&vernonID=145322
E1	Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford	https://www.ashmolean.org/collections-online#/item/ash-object-878068	https://www.ashmolean.org/collections-online#/item/ash-object-878068
E2	Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford	https://www.ashmolean.org/collections-online#/item/ash-object-878067	https://www.ashmolean.org/collections-online#/item/ash-object-878067
F1	John ScottCollection			JS2013.527.1575
F2	John ScottCollection			JS2013.527.1645
F3	John ScottCollection			JS2013.527.1575
F4	John ScottCollection			JS2013.527.1575
F5	John ScottCollection			JS2013.527.1575
F6	John ScottCollection			JS2013.527.1652
G1	Christie's	https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-3961676	https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-3961676
G2	Christie's	https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-3961675	https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-3961675
H	The British Museum	https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1994-0502-1_1	https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1994-0502-1_1
I1	Thomson Roddick Auctioneers & Valuers	https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/trs-auctions/catalogue-id-thomso10164/lot-46c47887-6369-4080-ad16-ac4500df4988	https://portal-images.azureedge.net/auctions-2020/thomso10164/images/13c88351-8cf0-4e18-81e6-ac4500df3cd4.jpg
I2	Thomson Roddick Auctioneers & Valuers	https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/trs-auctions/catalogue-id-thomso10164/lot-46c47887-6369-4080-ad16-ac4500df4988	https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/trs-auctions/catalogue-id-thomso10164/lot-46c47887-6369-4080-ad16-ac4500df4988
J	Barnsley Museums and Heritage Trust	https://bmht.org/news/conservation-fund/	https://bmht.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/TILE.png
L	Sworders Auctions	https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/sworders/catalogue-id-srswo10635/lot-f39e03e4-f552-49ac-9d9c-b24c01049a16	https://portal-images.azureedge.net/auctions-2025/srswo10635/images/709cb6e0-095d-4985-bc12-b24c0108cf8c.jpg
L1	Worthing Street, Hull			Hans van Lemmen
L2	Worthing Street, Hull			Hans van Lemmen
L3	Worthing Street, Hull			Hans van Lemmen
L4	Worthing Street, Hull			Hans van Lemmen
L5	Worthing Street, Hull			Hans van Lemmen
M	Los Angeles County Museum of Art	https://collections.lacma.org/node/207034	https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/collections.lacma.org-images/remote_images/ma-14417-WEB.jpg?La40tK30goTb9L8EgtMxe.1C8AOGwsFM
N1	Gladstone Pottery Museum	https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gladstone_Minton_majolica_glaze_pressed_tiles_gallery_3875c.JPG
N2	Gladstone Pottery Museum	https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gladstone_Minton_majolica_glaze_pressed_tiles_gallery_3875c.JPG
N3	Gladstone Pottery Museum	https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gladstone_Minton_majolica_glaze_pressed_tiles_gallery_3875c.JPG
TBA	Knightshayes
TBA	Knightshayes