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Who made this?

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The Chertsey tiles were created by many different people.  The general concept and the inscriptions would have been designed by an educated individual, and then the drawings accomplished by an artist, both probably at the court of King Henry III and Eleanor in London.  The molds for the tiles were carved from wood or cast from metal by craftspeople similarly working for Henry and Eleanor.  These molds were used by tile-makers to create the tiles for Westminster Palace.

The molds were then brought to Chertsey when they were used by local tile-makers. The tile-makers processed the clay and used the molds to make the pictorial tiles before firing them. We know little about the true identity of the tile-makers at Chertsey, but presumably they have been trained in the techniques of clay manufacture for years. The complicated and technical excellence of the tiles suggest that the mastering of this technique of tile-making required years of practice. 

Tile makers who made decorated floor tiles were specialists within their fields. With knowledge of a variety of methods of decoration, mixing different clay types, creating glazes, and even the construction of the kiln, floor tilers had the expertise that surpassed those of roof tilers. Tiles like these in the thirteenth century were only commissioned to furnish only elite space, both religious spaces like abbeys or churches and royal palaces.

In the thirteenth century, tilers were paid a daily wage and also rations of food. Many manufactured these tiles as near as possible to where they would be laid. At first, these decorated tiles could only be afforded by royals or members of the religious houses, but in the coming decades the demand would only increase from wealthy merchants and magnates.

Medieval kilns were constructed of two or more rectangular furnace chambers constructed below ground with one of the kiln chambers being on top of them. It's here where the actual firing took place. Proper firing required temperatures of 1,000 degrees, yet with no devices to accurately measure temperatures inside the kiln manufacturers had to rely on prior experience.

Tile manufacturing became more commercial in the 14th century, as demand accrued, and tilers began work in production centers and were paid in accordance with the amount produced.

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  1. Isolde in the boat to Brittany, Tristan series tile (BM 1885,1113.8990) Brooke Hendershott

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