Tremendous Tunbridgeware
People have visited the historic Pantiles for over four centuries. When they did, they may have bought a souvenir of their trip - a talisman to revive memories made, and to remind of health restored. The Victorians were greatly sentimental, and that’s something that’s still with us today, especially in a world that’s never moved faster. The talisman a Georgian or Victorian visitor would have bought was a piece of Tunbridge ware.
Typified by tiny tiles or tesserae, glued together to form a picture or pattern, some, such as the ‘perspective cube’ pattern, still feel modern and contemporary today. But it’s the more exquisitely complex patterns of buildings or scenes that are the most desirable and fetch the highest prices - back then and today.
The devil’s in the detail. The way Tunbridge ware was made is truly fascinating - and enormously time-consuming. Thin square or geometric-section rods were cut from differently coloured blocks of wood. These were glued together under pressure in rows to form a larger block, with the top displaying a picture or design comprised of the ends of the differently coloured tiny thin rods - like pixels on a computer screen or flatscreen TV, or the wording in a stick of seaside rock. Some of the rods were washed in the waters of the Chalybeate spring to bring out and enhance their colours. Thin slices were then cut from the block and glued onto wooden bodies, like the top of a box or a tabletop, just like a veneer. From each block of assembled ‘stickware’, they’d get about 8 veneers per vertical inch. The piece was then lovingly varnished with lacquers to both add protection and bring up the warm richness of the intricate wooden design. Hence a repeatable, highly detailed picture or design could be added to anything with a flat surface.
The technique is said to have been developed by cabinet makers in Tonbridge, but moved to Tunbridge Wells (and a couple of other towns) some time after the discovery of the Chalybeate spring in Tunbridge Wells in 1606 by a courtier of King James I. The health-giving properties of the waters led to the town being rapidly developed as a fashionable spa resort during the 17th century and, by the mid-18th, century, an entire industry had grown to serve the wealthy, well-heeled (and well-healed!) visitors - including the production of these wonderful wooden souvenirs.
Despite the discovery of sea-bathing as health-giving in the mid-18th century, and the rise of seaside resorts, visitor numbers to our spa town continued to grow. The high point of Tunbridge ware production was during the mid-19th century, when visitor numbers were bolstered by the inexorable rise of the middle classes, the arrival of the railways in 1845, and the introduction of public bank holidays in 1871.
At one point, the industry was worth millions of pounds in today’s money, and produced wares for other popular tourist destinations around the country, such as Brighton, Yarmouth and Rye. Hundreds of thousands of pieces were produced and taken back to homes across the country - and indeed the world. Major makers included the Wise family, Edmund Nye, and Thomas Barton, and some pieces can be attributed to a maker from the style or design, or use of certain woods, such as green oak. Original makers’ paper labels or marks add a financial premium as well as making a piece more desirable.
Wood is good! In excess of 200 different types of wood were used, with the density of tiles ranging at the most detailed end from anything between 180 and over 300 tiles per square inch. Although some woods such as bird’s eye maple and satin birch were more commonly used, some are scarce. A unique tea caddy made from Japanese or American Tamo ash wood sold for £320 last month. Unusual shapes make a difference too.
You can get in on the action for as little as £60. That’ll buy you a small box, and who doesn’t like a box?! They’re endlessly and eternally practical, even today, for storing everything from paper clips to smartphone paraphernalia, jewellery or watches. Although useful boxes were a major mainstay, makers produced everything from tables to writing slopes, trays and sewing tools, to musical instruments and even yo-yos! In general, the larger the piece, and the complex and greater the surface decoration, the better. More is more!
Although the market has cooled over the past 20-30 years, making Tunbridge ware more accessible to us today than ever before, prices for the rarest items are high - a highly decorated, rare sewing box table with integral writing slope can fetch £20,000. As we return to an appreciation for craftsmanship and the handmade, and for having unique pieces that are both functional and beautiful in our homes, interest and desirability remains strong and that looks likely to continue, if not grow.
Appropriately, the largest selection of Tunbridge ware for sale in the world can be found in The Pantiles Arcade in the heart of The Pantiles. This selection has been enhanced by the recent consignment of the Professor Flavia Swann collection, one of the largest and most important privately owned collections ever built.
Come and visit the The Tunbridge ware Room at The Pantiles Arcade in The Corn Exchange to see an unparalleled collection for sale, and look out for our first auction of the Professor Flavia Swann collection, to be held in October this year.
Pictured above...
A Victorian Tunbridge ware framed picture of a scene of The Pantiles, c1785
A fine Victorian Tunbridge ware jewellery casket, the lid with a view of Eridge Castle, c1885.
A very rare Victorian Tunbridge ware Tamo ash tea caddy, c1865
A fine and rare Tunbridge ware hexagonal table, by Thomas Barton, with original trade label to underside.
This article first appeared in Tunbridge Wells Business Magazine in June 2024.
