West Room Fireplace – Pickwick Papers

Canon 5D MkIII, EF17-40mm f/4L @ 32mm, f/11, 2 sec, ISO 400

Moving along the hallway from the Map Room, one encounters this “story board” fireplace in the West Room.  One of Mercer’s most popular tile types were “story tiles” , a set of tiles which told a story or a sequence of events.  Many of these were sold to private individuals throughout the country.  This mural depicts Charles Dickens’ Pickwick Papers.  Below are a couple of the individual tiles.  It looks like I will need to read Dickens’ work so I can tell the story behind the tiles.

Note the small hole in the middle of the tiles,  These are nail holes used to hold the tiles in place as they were being set into the mortar.

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Map Room Floor Tile Design

Canon 5D MkIII, EF24-70mm f2.8L @ 59mm, f/11, 2 sec, ISO 200

Watch where you step!  Your foot might obstruct interesting floor tile designs.  The stimulating Map Room floor is decorated with unique mortar and tile designs.  I do not know how many times I walked over these tiles without paying them much attention. Focusing on the various tiles throughout the castle has enabled me to see things I never noticed before.  They just seem to pop out wherever I look.  I look forward to returning and focusing on additional aspects within Fonthill.  Below is another example of a different design.

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Map Room Hallway

Canon 5D MkIII, EF24-70mm f/2.8L @45mm, f/8.0, 0.3 sec, ISO 400

A narrow window lined hallway leads from the Study to the Map Room.  The window encasements are lined with various Mercer decoratory and architectural tiles  Different styles are installed in each of the window frames.  Below are a couple of individual tiles:

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Study Ceiling Tiles

Canon 5D MkIII, EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 30mm, f/11, 1.6 sec, ISO 200

Walking from the Dormer into the Study, I can feel the personality of Henry Mercer at work.  Four desks are installed/placed around the room.  Each one is positioned to capture the best light available for different times of the day.  Artwork, artifacts, and books grace the walls.  Tile mosaics adorn the ceiling,  The two shown in this post represent the several others placed around the Study Ceiling.

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Dormer Sink Wall (Delft and Mercer Architectural Tiles)

Canon 5D MkIII, EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 43mm, f/11, ISO 200 (HDR)

Completing one loop from the Center Hall, the tour walks past the Floral Brocades shown in a prior post to start another loop in the Dormer.  One wall in the Dormer is completely covered in tiles.  Antique Delft tiles are encased by Mercer’s Architectural tiles.  Two modern ceramic sculptures by Katia McGuirk are on temporary display.

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Canon 5D MkIII, EF24-70mm f/2.8L @ 43mm, f/8.0, 3.2 sec, ISO 200

The tour now moves from the Center Hall up to the East Room.  The main walls of the East Room are covered with fine artwork, not tiles.  Architectural tiles on the built-in bureau, desk, and staircase cap.  The ceilings are decorated with brocade tiles along the seams and several mosaics including the one in the above image.

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Canon 5DMKIII, EF17-40mm @ 20mm, f/8.0, ISO 400 (HDR)

Taking a few more steps up the stairs one find this second Mosaic of Persian antique tiles.  The origin dates for these are also unknown.  Note how Mercer uses his own architectural tiles to create this mosaic to display the Persian collection.

The left side of this mosaic was in bright sunlight while the right side was in shadow.  I used HDR processing and image merging to balance the shades to depict the colors that I saw.

Below are additional images of some individual tiles:

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Canon 5D MkIII, EF17-40mm f/4L @ 17mm, f/16, 1.3 sec, ISO 400

After seeing the Fonthill worker dedication mural, I have walked down the stairs to the Breakfast Room, down more stairs to the Gallery, and up another set of stairs to the Center Hall.  Rounding the stairway from the Gallery, this Persian tile mosaic is right in front of me.  I asked the site administrator what happened to the tiles preceding the ” — th Century” title.  I thought they may have damaged and taken off.  The answer that he gave was that Mercer was uncertain when the tiles were actually made, so he left it blank.  To design this display, Mercer used his own architectural tiles to frame the Persian Tiles.  He used this technique throughout Fonthill to display his foreign tile collections.

Below are a couple of the Persian tiles that I caught my eye:

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