American Encaustic Ceramic Tile

12 x 12 inches. Carved tile. A late 19th-century photographic portrait of a child applied to a ceramic tile support. The sepia-toned image depicts a young child with short curly hair in a pictorialist style, set against a faint foliate-patterned background. The tile is housed in a substantial Arts and Crafts period oak frame. The frame features a wide inner border of relief-carved floral and foliate motifs against a textured, stippled ground. The verso reveals the ceramic back of the tile, which is secured within the primary wooden frame by a secondary internal wooden frame. The ceramic back of the tile features an impressed mark consisting of capital letters in a single line reading A . E . T . C . O . L I M I T E D and the numbers 0 0 impressed directly below. An aged hanging wire is attached to the verso with two metal eyelets. Outer frame: 13 x 13 inches Visible tile: 6 x 6 inches.