Bathrooms of the Rich and Famous

I moved to a new place recently, so I have been hitting the local consignment shops pretty hard in search of new furnishings. Thankfully, the major furniture purchases are all behind me and now all that’s left to acquire are the pictures, lamps, and other decorative bits and bobs that round a place out.^* To that end, this afternoon I dropped into Estate Gallery Consignments^** and stumbled across this on a back shelf:

I snapped it up because I vaguely recognized the scene as Arthurian,^*** though I don’t know how exactly, as I didn’t see the name “Geraint” (which is clear as day now) until I got home. Turns out the tile depicts a scene from Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, Geraint slaying Dorm. It’s part of a 12-tile set that illustrates the full cycle, designed by John Moyr Smith around 1875 for the Minton Tile Company.^**** I’m assuming mine’s a fake, but either way, I’m glad to have stumbled across it, as I’d never known till today that the Victorians sometimes tiled their washrooms with scenes of dudes with swords hacking up other dudes–Arthurian dudes or otherwise.

1. * I’m still searching for a rug that will really tie the room together. [↩]
2. ** Who I’d link to if they had a webpage. If you live in Atlanta and want to visit them, go to that part of Chamblee where all the antique stores are stacked on top of each other five deep. [↩]
3. *** And the price as $8, well within my knickknack budget. [↩]
4. **** The same tile company that tiled part of the White House. [↩]