Anna Burnside
Head of Sale
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Lot 65
A medieval encaustic wall tile from Great Malvern Priory, circa 1457-58
15 April 2025, 10:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £4,480 inc. premium
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A medieval encaustic wall tile from Great Malvern Priory, circa 1457-58
One section from a vertical strip of five tiles that depict a fantastic gothic structure, this rectangular panel showing windows and a roof section flanked by spires and surmounted by a heraldic shield bearing sacred emblems of The Passion, 22cm high
Footnotes
Provenance
With Sampson & Horne
Graham Slater Collection
Great Malvern Priory was largely rebuilt between about 1440 and 1500. Tile workshops and kilns were established in the precinct east of the priory church in the 1450s, responsible for an estimated 50,000 encaustic tiles. Around 1,300 tiles still survive within the priory, all dating from this period. Some of the tiles in the Priory feature the dates 1453, 1456 and 1458/9. Altogether there are over 100 different designs, including intricate heraldic motifs designed specifically for the Priory. See Anne Darracott, The Rebuilding of the Quire of Great Malvern Priory in the 15th Century (2005).
The present lot is one of a series of large rectangular wall tiles found on the wall facing the north quire aisle and on the gable of the Priory Gatehouse. Others were intended to flank the high altar's reredos. The upper edge of the top tile carries an inscription '36 Henry VI', which equates to the years 1457/1458.
During the nineteenth-century restoration of the church, many of the decorated tiles were re-mounted on the wall to the rear of the high altar, where they remain today. Many duplicates were sold to collectors and a complete strip of five tiles including the present design can be seen in the British Museum's gallery of British Medieval art (inv. no.1856,0627.157).