RECENT ADVANCES IN THE POTTERY INDUSTRY. 309 



Fig. 35. — A "Low" 

 Tile, "• The Flying 

 Moments." By Os- 

 borne. 



of delicate objects, such, as grasses, leaves, lace, etc., the article to 

 be represented was j^laced on the surface of the unburned tile and 

 forced into the clay by means of a press. Such intaglios, plainly 

 showing every small detail of marking, were 

 utilized as molds for forming the raised designs 

 on tiles, which were called " natural tiles," 



In the high-relief tiles the undercutting is 

 done by hand after the designs have been 

 stamped in the press. Among Mr. Osborne's 

 designs are ideal heads, mythological subjects, 

 portraits of prominent men, Japanese sketches, 

 and an almost endless variety of animal, bird, 

 and floral studies. His plastic sketches, on a 

 larger scale, are particularly meritorious, some 

 of the most pleasing being a group of sheep in 

 a pasture, a drove of swine, entitled " Late for 

 Dinner," a herd of cows wending their way 

 homeward, and " The Old Windmill." A beau- 

 tiful conceit is the " Flying Moments," in which 

 three Cupids hover around an hour-glass, one 

 being depicted in the act of winging his way up- 

 ward (see Fig. 35). These works also make stove tiles, calendar 

 tiles, clothes-hooks, paper-weights, inkstands, and pitchers in 

 plain colors, enameled, and glazed. They at one time also manu- 

 factured tile stoves. 

 Lately the Lows have 

 been making a spe- 

 cialty of the manu- 

 facture of art - tile 

 soda fountains, in 

 which work Mr. Os- 

 borne has found a 

 broader field for the 

 exercise of his tal- 

 ents. 



The United States 

 Encaustic Tile 

 AVorks, of Indianap- 

 olis, Ind., is the out- 

 growth of the United 

 States Encaustic Tile 

 Company, which was 

 organized shortly after the Centennial. Five years ago the 

 present proprietors took charge of the works, and are now mak- 

 ing encaustic geometrical and relief mantel tiles. So rapidly 

 has the business grown in the past few years that the plant now 



Fi( 



-Pani:i, I 111; Son A Foix'! 



.1. (;. cV' .1. F. Low. 



