Flower Tile

Details

Date: c. 1888-98
Dimensions: 15.2 x 15.2
Object Type: ceramic
Material: earthenware
Catalogue number: C66
Designer: De Morgan, William (1839 - 1917)
Manufacturer: De Morgan, Sands End Pottery, Fulham, London, England
Credit notes: Presented by Lady Pooley, 1953

This tile by William de Morgan is painted in yellow, blues and greens with a net pattern including carnation type flowers and leaves. The reverse of the tile is impressed with a Tudor rose and “Wm. De Morgan & Co. Sands End Pottery Fulham”. The tile was designed to form a larger tile panel, a five tile version of which is in the De Morgan Foundation collection (C_WDM_0223).

Details

Date: June 1890
Dimensions: 25.9 x 19.6
Object Type: print
Material: paper
Technique: woodblock
Catalogue number: P807
Artist: Crane, Walter, 1845, 1915
Owner: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Maker: Hooper, William Harcourt (1834 - 1912)

This woodblock printed bookplate, inscribed ‘From the Branch to its Flower’, was designed by Walter Crane and engraved by W.H. Hooper to accompany a wedding gift of books from the Hammersmith Branch of the Socialist League to May Morris. The gift was accompanied with a message signed by 30 members saying ‘You have lived among us and have worked for us with your best strength’. The bookplate’s design incorporates three ‘caps of liberty’ in each corner.

Details

Date: designed 1862, printed before 1940
Object Type: wallpaper
Technique: block-printed in distemper
Catalogue number: B123
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Manufacturer: Arthur Sanderson and Sons Ltd
Credit notes: Presented by Miss H. Brooks, 1991

William Morris designed Daisy in 1862, but did not register the design until 1 February 1864. The pattern is a simple design of unconnected clumps of yellow daisies, red columbine and red and white meadow flowers against a background suggestive of blades of grass. The simplicity and cosy naturalism of the flower clump would prove endlessly adaptable for Morris, who used them as decoration for tiles, stained glass (including in his first home Red House) and book illustrations.

Details

Date: c.1920-1930s
Dimensions: 49 x 60
Object Type: oil
Material: oil on canvas
Catalogue number: BrO34
Artist: Henry, George, 1858, 1943
Credit notes: Brangwyn gift, 1936

In this painting, George Henry’s typical use of lush colours is evident in the bluebells carpeting the woodland floor. Henry was one of the Glasgow Boys, a loose group of painters active in the late nineteenth century. Born in Ayrshire, Henry studied at the Glasgow School of Art. His friendship with Edward Atkinson Hornel led to some collaborative work and they were among the first British artists to visit Japan, traveling there together in 1893.

Details

Date: design registered 15 April 1875
Dimensions: 140 x 97
Object Type: textile
Material: printed cotton
Technique: block-printed
Catalogue number: F210
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Credit notes: Miss M A Sloane bequest, 1962

At Morris’s factory in Merton Abbey the printer pressed the printing block into a dye-pad and then positioned it on the fabric. The block was then tapped with a mall (a led weighted mallet) to ensure an even impression on the cloth. The printer then lifted the block, applied more colour and repeated the process down the whole length of the fabric. When the first colour had dried, the second colour was applied.

Details

Date: c. 1890-1899
Dimensions: 70.9 x 59.7 x 32.4
Object Type: furniture
Catalogue number: G53
Designer and maker: Jack, George Washington Henry (1855 - 1931)
Credit notes: Presented by Miss Jack, 1972

The associated original design (A523) indicates that this table was originally intended to be decorated with different coloured wood inlay. The table was possibly made and designed as a workbox for George Jack’s wife Annie’s embroidery. When exhibited in 1899 the table was described as a ..”very entertaining little work table.., the construction of which seems somewhat frail even for feminine use, but one can forgive that, since it is painted in the gayest fashion imaginable”.

Details

Dimensions: 32 x 24 x 6
Object Type: printing block
Material: pearwood
Catalogue number: R527
Retailer: Morris & Co.
Manufacturer: Barrett's of Bethnal Green Road
Credit notes: Gift of John Lewis Partnership, 1980

This printing wood block with used to print Morris & Co.’s designs onto cotton and was made by the firm of Barrett, 249 Bethnal Green Road. William Morris’s original drawing, or those of his other chief designer’s, would be transferred onto a pearwood surface using tracing paper. Morris would check all the blocks for accuracy before the pattern was carved into the surface by Barrett’s carvers. Each block was cut to match a different colour of the design and had to register correctly to ensure the pattern was printed accurately. Small pins were inserted in the edge of the block which when printed left tiny dots of colour. This allowed the printer to line the blocks up in the right place.

At Merton Abbey the cloth was stretched over a blanket underlay on one of the long tables in the printing shop. The printer would press the printing block into a dye-pad and then lay it into position on the fabric. The block was then tapped with a mall (a led weighted mallet) to ensure an even impression on the cloth. The printer then lifted the block, applied more colour and repeated the process down the whole length of the fabric. By this time the first colour had dried, allowing the application of second colour.

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