Stove tile

The square-shaped front is decorated with opposing lines of hearts, joined by palmettes. The two opposite sides show two cut rosettes each. This tile belongs to the so-called "wallpaper" type, because several tiles fitted together make a continuous decoration, (see tiles with Cat.No. 537 and Inv. No. 3550). The whole design requires two or three rows of tiles. This type of work was well-known in Central Europe in the second half of the 16th century. The above motifs were probably popularised in Hungary by Haban potters. They were common in Transylvania after the first quarter of the 17th century but had been widely used much earlier in Northern Hungary. The new decoration was also a technical innovation, since both the production and the placing of the tiles with similar motifs was easier than with traditional stove tiles.