Portmeirion Botanic Garden Hand Painted Test Tile Double Camellia, SM4-BG1114
Portmeirion

A Portmeirion Botanic Garden Hand Painted Test Tile, The Double Camellia, Designed By Susan Williams-Ellis.

This rectangular tile was used in the Portmeirion Factory to test many things in preparation for or even during the length of time that the particular range was in in production for. Colour, positioning, size, quality, all checked to perfection before full production ensued. Normally kept as archive material for past and future reference, this tile is a pure piece of history of Portmeirion Pottery. This is a slice of Susan Williams-Ellis’s pure genius, personally hand painted by and annotated by her on the 18th July 1990.

These are a true collectors item for any serious collector of Portmeirion Botanic Garden. This tile is very rare as it is a one off and a true work of art.

This actual tile features in the Portmeirion Pottery book by Jenkins and McKay on page 81.

DO NOT CLEAN - as the tile is over-painted in Acrylic Paint on the Camellia.

There are annotations on discoloured sellotape which are unstable in places.

There is a small chip on the back of the tile.

It cannot be overstated how important these tiles are to the history of Portmeirion Pottery and are true museum pieces.

Supplied with a certificate of authenticity signed by Stephen McKay.

Approx Dimensions:- 

8.5 in (21.5 cm) x 11.5 in (29 cm)

Botanic Garden

So impressed was Susan with the floral transfers made for her Mother's Day Plate in 1971, she decided to start collecting antique drawings and illustrations of plants, butterflies and insects with which she could decorate a new range of pottery. Susan called the design Botanic Garden and in 1972 produced it on a new shape of ware called Drum, which was based on the Meridian shape. The African Daisy was the first of many flowers to be incorporated into the range where different flower motifs appeared on each piece. Botanic Garden was, and now after over 40 years still is, one of the world's most successful pottery designs and forms half of Portmeirion's turnover. It really is a timeless and beautiful design. The now iconic, green leaf pattern that forms the border on the range, became part of Portmeirion's company logo and now appears on all of their products.