Antique Kensington Guerre & Victoire Figural Panel Pair — Attr. Herman Carl Mueller

Description

A matched pair of allegorical figural panels from the Kensington Art Tile Company of Newport, Kentucky, each built from three glazed relief tiles that stack vertically to form a single standing figure. GUERRE (War): a draped classical woman holding a crested helmet, a sword across her lap. VICTOIRE (Victory): a soldier in scale armor cradling a small winged Nike. Each name is spelled on a raised scroll cartouche; a soft rose-mauve glaze pools richly in the recesses. Attributed to Herman Carl Mueller — trained at the Munich Academy, later transformed the art tile output of AETCO, co-founded the Mosaic Tile Company, and founded Mueller Mosaic; his work is held by the Met, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Smithsonian. These panels date to his formative Kensington period and are among his earliest American tile work. Six tiles total, two vertical three-tile panels, marked Kensington to the reverse. To the best of current knowledge, the only known example of this Guerre/Victoire pair.