Tile, 6 x 6 inches. Brown on buff. Raised maker's mark for Mintons China Works. This is one in a series of twelve fairy tale patterns designed by John Moyr Smith for Mintons China Works. The series dates to c. 1873-74. The fairy tale represented here is "The Brave Little Tailor" collected by the Grimm Brothers. It is about a humble tailor who tricks many giants and a ruthless king into believing in the tailor's incredible feats of strength and bravery, leading to him winning wealth and power. The story begins with the tailor preparing to eat some jam, but when flies settle on it, he kills seven of them with one blow of his hand. He makes a belt describing the deed, reading "Seven at One Blow." Inspired, he sets out into the world to seek his fortune.

The scene depicted on the tile represents the part of the fairy tale where the tailor “had walked for a long time, he came to the courtyard of a royal palace, and as he felt weary, he lay down on the grass and fell asleep. Whilst he lay there, the people came and inspected him on all sides, and read on his girdle: ‘Seven at one stroke.’ ‘Ah!’ said they, ‘what does the great warrior want here in the midst of peace? He must be a mighty lord.’ They went and announced him to the king, and gave it as their opinion that if war should break out, this would be a weighty and useful man who ought on no account to be allowed to depart.”

Herbert Minton entered into partnership with Michael Hollins in 1845 and formed the tile-making firm of Minton Hollins & Co. They were the most famed and prolific manufacturers - for most of the Victorian era their tiles were used in The Palace of Westminster (The UK Houses of Parliament), U.S. Capitol, Victoria & Albert Museum, and many other prestigious buildings.