Tile, 6 x 6 inches. Brown on cream. Raised maker's mark for Minton, Hollins & Co. John Moyr Smith designed this series of 12 patterns for Minton Hollins & Co., c. 1873, in addition to the Nursery Rhyme series he designed for Minton’s China Works. “Old King Cole” is a British nursery rhyme that first appeared in William King’s "Useful Transactions in Philosophy" (1708–9). “Old King Cole was a merry old soul,/ And a merry old soul was he;/ He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl,/ And he called for his fiddlers three./ Every fiddler he had a fiddle,/ And a very fine fiddle had he;/ Oh, there's none so rare, as can compare,/ With King Cole and his fiddlers three.”

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.