Border Tile 1878 - 1881

This border tile was made by J. and J. G. Low Art Tile Works. The eye is immediately drawn to the repetition of floral motifs arranged horizontally across its surface. The monochrome palette enhances the tile's structural clarity, emphasizing its textured surfaces and carefully designed pattern. The tile's design incorporates both naturalistic and stylized elements. Each flower is rendered with individual petals radiating from a central point, evoking organic growth, yet they are uniformly shaped, creating a sense of artificiality. The surface is intricately cracked with a network of fine lines. The regularity and symmetry of the floral pattern lends itself to structuralist interpretations. Semiotically, each floral motif could be seen as a sign, and the repeated pattern suggests an underlying code. This code is potentially destabilized by the cracked texture, which introduces an element of the unpredictable. Consider how the tension between order and disorder, natural and artificial, invites ongoing interpretation.