Antique Mintons China works pomegranate tiles shops kitchen backsplash, English arts and crafts home restoration, Victorian Majolica pottery tiles

shops A set of 6 antique 'Mintons China Works' tiles (1873 - 1918), made in Stoke on Trent. The set makes up a continuous pattern of pomegranate fruit amongst flower and foliage. Perfect for a backsplash at the stove or sink. The tiles are loose and have been randomly put together for the photo. Please take note that these tiles have damages (chips / crazing; see pictures) as they have been salvaged from an old home. They are all marked on the back for Mintons China works, no. 2150. You will receive all 6 tiles.

I have one extra tile that is just a slight smaller at 15 x 15.3 cm, which I will add to the lot.

size of the tiles:
15.2 x 15.4
15.4 x 15.4
15.4 x 15.4
15.3 x 15.4
15.4 x 15.4
15.3 x 15.4

The pomegranate has strong symbolic meaning in many cultures and religions: Some Jewish scholars believe the pomegranate was the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden; Christian believe that the fruit, broken or bursting open, is a symbol of the fullness of Jesus' suffering and resurrection; The Greeks believed it to be the "fruit of the dead", and believed to have sprung from the blood of Adonis. The myth of Persephone, the goddess of the underworld, prominently features her consumption of pomegranate seeds, requiring her to spend a certain number of months in the underworld every year. The number of seeds and therefore months vary. During the months, while Persephone sits on the throne of the underworld beside her husband Hades, her mother Demeter mourned and no longer gave fertility to the earth. This was an ancient Greek explanation for the changing of the seasons. Overall, the fruit seems to be linked most commonly with prosperity, fertility, abundance and marriage.