encaustic tiles awaiting installation at the
United States Capitol. English
Gothic Revival tiles The tiles known as
encaustic tiles in the
Victorian period were, in the
medieval period, known as
inlaid tiles. The use of the word
encaustic to describe an inlaid tile of two or more colors is linguistically incorrect. The word
encaustic, from the , means 'burning in', from , and . The term
encaustic originally described a process of painting with a
beeswax-based paint that was then fixed with heat. It was also applied to a process of medieval enameling. The term did not come into use when describing tile until the 19th century; supposedly, Victorians thought that the two colour tiles strongly resembled enamel work and so called them encaustic. Despite the error, the term has now been in common use for so long that it is an accepted name for inlaid tile work. Encaustic or inlaid tiles enjoyed two periods of great popularity. The first came in the 13th century and lasted until the
English Reformation under
Henry VIII of England in the 16th century, which eschewed and removed much medieval church decoration along with the policy of the
dissolution of the monasteries. The second period of popularity came when the tiles caught the attention of craftsmen during the
Gothic Revival era, who, after much trial and error, mass-produced encaustic tiles, and made them available to the general public. During both periods, tiles were made across Western Europe, though the centre of tile production was in
England. Companies in the
United States also made encaustic tile during the
Gothic Revival architecture style's period. The
American Encaustic Tiling Company of
Zanesville, Ohio, was active until 1935. However, in the 1930s, encaustic tiling began to lose ground to more affordable
glass and vitreous glass tiles. == Manufacture ==