Savin Tree Tile

Label

These tiles once bordered a fireplace in Dreamwold, a lavish estate built in Scituate, Massachusettes, in 1902.  Grueby Faience Company, a leading art pottery firm in Boston, provided the mansion with tiles for at least nine fireplaces, five bathrooms, and a conservatory.  This fireplace facing design, based on a species of juniper (Juniperus sabina), was illustrated in Grueby's tile catalogue with three plain tiles across the top; according to a 1909 price list, the entire set sold for thirty-five dollars. The flattened composition of these tiles reflects the influence of Japanese aesthetics, while their sinuous outlines relate to the European art nouveau style popular at the turn of the twentieth century.

Exhibition History

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 15, 1999-April 18, 2001.

Grueby Pottery, A New England Arts and Crafts Venture, The William Curry Collection, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 2-September 18, 1994.

American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 9-December 9, 2007.

Publication History

Grueby Pottery, A New England Arts and Crafts Venture, The William Curry Collection, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1994, ill. p. 32, no. 88.

Barbara J. MacAdam, American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Muesum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2007, p. 230, no. 202.

Provenance

William P. Curry, New York, New York; lent to present collection, 1999; given to present collection, 2000.

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete.

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Subjects