Satish Gupta uses tiles with colourful floral motifs

Connoisseurs with a nose for antiques are on a new mission: to dig out age-old art frozen on ceramic and terracotta tiles. And these are being displayed on furniture, table tops, front doors and are also being framed and flaunted on walls as artwork — right there in their living rooms. Antique tiles are the new rage among those with a sharp eye for aesthetics.

So when animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi recently unveiled an exhibition under the aegis of her organisation for animal protection, People for Animals, she got rave reviews. Over 6,000 antique tiles were snapped up by eager collectors.

Gandhi says: “Tiles may be small, but they are making a huge design impact. Antique tiles have become the new decorating accent for those who like unique collectibles.”

According to interior designer Nisha Jamvwal, antique tiles are now finding their way into living rooms not only as art pieces but also as accents to embellish furniture. Tiles, agrees Gandhi, can be used in endless creative ways. “They can be framed, or displayed on a plate holder, leaned against a wall, put on an easel or even laid flat on a table,” she suggests. Tiles also work well in smaller spaces such as bed-sides or over doorways and on windowsills.

What makes these collectibles special is their old world charm. “Most antique tiles are over 100 years old and can be found in antique shops in Goa, Pondicherry and Rajasthan,” says curator and art collector, Ashwini Bahadur.

Gandhi, who took two years to put her exhibition together, scouted the country for these tiles. Her collection featured Chinese, Islamic, Portuguese, Dutch, English and Indian tiles that once decorated Indian palaces. While some were bought from antique dealers, others were sourced from old havelis that were being demolished in Rajasthan. “All the tiles date between 1890 and 1930 and are hand-painted,” she explains. The tiles belonging to this period usually came from Europe and Britain.

Antique Portuguese tiles incorporated into a low table brighten up the drawing room in curator Ashwini Bahadur’s home

Gandhi says that since the Indian royals of the time ordered tiles from Britain and France, most of the tiles are distinctive for their very European floral patterns. Pointing towards a tile with fruit motifs, she says, “This is called Majorca and is popular in Europe since fruits are symbolic of prosperity.”

If tiles from Europe are high on floral and fruit patterns, their Indian counterparts have images and names of Indian gods and goddesses painted on them. “Some were custom-made in Japan for the havelis,” says Gandhi.

Artist Satish Gupta too is an antique tile fan. His artistically done studio-cum-home in Gurgaon is filled with furniture set with old tiles. A table top and settee flash sea-green tiles with floral motifs in pink and green. He found them in an antique shop in Goa. “They lend the furniture a distinctive look,” he says.

Jamvwal too has put antique Portuguese tiles to great use in interiors. She has fixed them around door handles, on cabinet drawers, on bed-heads, has framed them as decorative artworks and has extravagantly used them as kitchen and bathroom tiles as well. “I have used them as single focal points to spruce up furniture,” says Jamvwal.

Die-hard collectors are travelling to locations where old palaces and havelis are being ripped down and purchasing these tiles from these sites. Like designer Rahul Jain — who’s from Jodhpur — and who travels to the interiors of Rajasthan for these collectibles. “India is a treasure trove of antique tiles — provided one has an eye for them and knows where to get them,” says Jain.

At his home in Jodhpur, he has liberally used ancient terracotta tiles that he collected from old houses from a village called Ameth in Rajasthan. “Blue terracotta tiles can be found all over the house, from the walls of the living room to the entrance of the bathroom,” he says.

You may love them but it’s equally important to know a genuine antique tile from a fake one. This can be tough but the professionals have some tips. One is to look at the back of the tile for signs of wear and to look for company markings and the country of manufacture. Another way to tell an old tile from a new one is by its thickness. “Although this is not always true, antique tiles are usually heavier and thicker than new ones,” says Gandhi.

Maneka Gandhi believes that tiles can have a powerful design impact Photographs by Jagan Negi

Another basic difference, Gandhi points out, lies in their colours. “No freshly manufactured tile can attain the faded charm of old pieces,” she says.

Glazes and designs too can help one distinguish old tiles from the new. Old glazes are high on oxides and leads which are lustrous and have more depth than the new versions. “These can never be replicated because it would be like replicating a masterpiece — which is impossible,” she says.

And the good news is that like any other works of art, with time, tiles too appreciate in value. About 10 years ago Ashwini Bahadur bought Portuguese antique tiles for Rs 20 each and used them to embellish a small low table. Today the same tiles, she says, will cost Rs 500 apiece if not more. Gandhi adds that her Majorca tile would cost no less than $400 (around Rs 16,800) in the international market though she priced them at an affordable Rs 2,000. “Prices can vary from shop to shop and design to design,” says Bahadur.

But bringing home a piece of history is always a priceless deal. u