“Spring,” Tile panel
Designer Herman Carl Mueller American
Manufacturer American Encaustic Tile Company American
Not on view
Conceived of by the German-born sculptor Herman Carl Mueller for the American Encaustic Tile Company, located in Zanesville, Ohio, "Spring," is part of a four-part series of decorative ceramic panels that depicts allegories of the four seasons. The finely molded relief design conveys a sense of depth seen through the soft grey-green transparent glaze. This artistic tile was intended to be treated as a picture, possibly framed, to adorn a parlor wall.
By the mid-nineteenth century, the industrial productions of Midwestern cities began to outpace the major metropolitan centers on the East Coast. Zanesville, Ohio, became particularly well-known for ceramic production and continued to play a prominent role in the ceramics industry through the twentieth century.
