

this was all i knew or ever even thought of batchelder, ernest batchelder. until yesterday. i was browsing around as i am wont to do and i came across a design instruction book he wrote, where i found this page.

since he had been kind enough to give us a hint, i was quickly able to find the image to which he referred .

it didn't look anything like the style in his tiles, but it certainly did look like the nicholson (look in the background).

a little more poking around under the name of batchelder, coming across additional samples of his tiles, when i made a connection that made my jaw drop and a giggle come up my throat. as i further perused his book i came across this illustration which, since i had just been dealing with this stuff a couple of days earlier, looked very familiar.



it turns out, i learn, that batchelder went to study art in boston when he was a young man. there he studied with denman waldo ross, who was a trustee at the MFA in boston dealing with the new and rapidly growing japanese art collection. at his side, though rather his competitor, but also a 'keeper of the japanese art' there at that time was arthur wesley dow. and there in their hands was the treasure from the 1730s: shunboku's book.
there are many sites which feature original or reproduction batchelder tiles; most of them can be found through the links page at the batchelder site. what began as a sort of 'sears catalogue' of fireplace tiles has, as interest in the design from this era grows, become a treasured commodity.
I have some Batchelder tiles that were salvaged from the Northridge earthquake and sold on eBay. I lived in Laramie, Wyoming for 20 years and the Ivinson Old Ladies Home (it probably has a different official name) was chock full of Batchelder - two large fireplaces, a fountain and random tiles along a hallway. Made my mouth water to see them. So I shared a book I have on Batchelder tiles with the administrator and she was most grateful to discover what a treasure they have.
ReplyDeleteOh now that is very cool, Karen. You really have me wondering now.... how did Batchelder get to Wyoming??? Must have been a California connection in there somewhere....
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