Antique Trent Cherub & Roses Figural Set with Factory Master Pattern

Description

Trent Tile Co., Trenton, New Jersey, c. 1885–1900. This is not a lot of tiles — it is a fragment of American industrial art history, and it comes with the tool that made it possible. A set of glazed production tiles in Trent’s signature mustard-amber majolica glaze, each 6×6 in, impressed TRENT TILE / TRENTON, N.J. / U.S.A.; a figural cherub-and-roses tile modeled in deep relief with a sleeping putto, curling locks, and a cascade of rose blossoms; companion field tiles from the same installation; and — the piece that changes everything — a factory master pattern tile showing the design molded in raw, unglazed bisque on the reverse, with the front glazed in production amber. A tile made to make tiles. Founded in 1882, Trent rose to prominence hiring the sculptor Isaac Broome in 1883. The figural composition is incomplete as noted; sold as a complete, indivisible lot. Honest age, period crackle, no restoration.