Study of Boler the dog

Details

Date: 1886
Dimensions: 30 x 20
Object Type: drawing
Material: pencil on paper
Catalogue number: BrD12
Artist: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Credit notes: Brangwyn gift, 1935

This study of a girl is preliminary study for ‘The Rose Bower’, the fourth of Edward Burne-Jones’s ‘Briar Rose’ series of paintings (National Trust). The drawing shows the head of a sleeping maiden, one of Beauty’s attendants, holding a musical instrument and seated on the ground by the bed of in which the princess lies. In the finished painting the girl has a much simpler hairstyle. The same figure appears in a simplifies variant of ‘The Rose Bower’ painting (gouache on canvas) in a private collection. Another slightly different varient of a girl’s head is in the collection of Hammersmith and Fulham Libraries.

‘The Briar Rose’ pictures originated in a series of painted tiles illustrating ‘The Sleeping Beauty’, designed by Burne-Jones in 1864 for Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. The small scenes were subsequently enlarged and much-developed into several sequences of painting.

Details

Dimensions: 140 x 208
Object Type: drawing
Catalogue number: BrD6
Artist: Brangwyn, Frank, Sir (1867 - 1956)
Credit notes: Brangwyn gift, 1936

Brangwyn was best known during his lifetime for his mural painting, particularly those commissioned by John D Rockefeller Junior to decorate the entrance to the RCA Building, the centrepiece of the Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan. The skyscraper, named after the Radio Corporation of America, housed the famous NBC studios known as ‘Radio City’.

Rockefeller also commissioned Diego Riviera and Jose Maria Sert to contribute murals. Brangwyn contributed four murals on the theme of The Evolution of Man: Man Labouring; Man the Creator; Man the Master; Man’s Ultimate Destiny.

This is the ‘cartoon’, or design, for the fourth of Brangwyn’s murals. It is ‘squared-up’ to make it easier to enlarge to the size of the final work, which Brangwyn painted on a canvas measuring almost 5 x 7 metres before shipping it to New York. They were painted in monochrome to harmonise with the black marble walls and ivory-coloured ceiling.

Details

Dimensions: 142 x 391
Object Type: drawing
Catalogue number: BrD5
Artist: Brangwyn, Frank, Sir (1867 - 1956)
Credit notes: Brangwyn gift, 1936

This is the ‘cartoon’, or design, for the first of Brangwyn’s murals. It is ‘squared-up’ to make it easier to enlarge to the size of the final work, which Brangwyn painted on a canvas measuring almost 5 x 7 metres before shipping it to New York. They were painted in monochrome to harmonise with the black marble walls and ivory-coloured ceiling.

Details

Dimensions: 144 x 167
Object Type: drawing
Catalogue number: BrD3
Artist: Brangwyn, Frank, Sir (1867 - 1956)
Credit notes: Brangwyn gift, 1936

Details

Date: c.1904
Dimensions: 22 height x 15 diameter
Object Type: metalwork
Material: pewter
Catalogue number: L22a
Designer: Knox, Archibald (1864 - 1933)
Retailer: Liberty & Co, Ltd
Manufacturer: W. H. Haseler Ltd
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1968

One of a pair of pewter candlesticks designed by Archibald Knox for Liberty and Co. The candlesticks are part of the Tudric range made for Liberty by W. H. Haseler’s of Birmingham. Archibald Knox was the chief designer, together with David Veazey, Oliver Baker and Rex Silver. They also produced a range in gold and silver known as Cymric. Liberty began producing ‘Tudric’ in 1899, and continued until 1926. The Art Nouveau shape of these candlesticks is typical of their style. The Tudric pewter has a high silver content, meaning it is very high quality.

Details

Date: 1856
Dimensions: 133.5 x 167.5 x 23
Object Type: metalwork
Material: iron
Catalogue number: L11
Designer: Stevens, Alfred (1817 - 1875)
Owner: Mackmurdo | Arthur Heygate | 1851 | 1942
Credit notes: Mackmurdo bequest, 1942

This chimney piece was formerly part of the furnishings of Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo’s bungalow at Wickham Bishops, Esse. It is one of number of designs made by Alfred Stevens for chimney and mantelpieces to be manufactured by the Coalbrookdale Iron Company, c.1856. The Chimney-piece is made of black-enamelled cast-iron, and decorated on upright supports and across the top with a continuous frieze in high relief in copper plate of swags of leaves with inter-twining ribbons and birds, a recumbent draped figure is to the right in the centre of the top frieze. The cornice above is decorated with moulding also in copper plate. The cornice was cast separately and bolted to the lower frieze and supports

Details

Dimensions: 15.2 x 15.2
Object Type: ceramic
Material: earthenware tiles painted in enamels
Catalogue number: C82f
Designer: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Painter: Orrinsmith (née Faulkner) | Lucy
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs L. Hitch, 1954

This series of 7 tiles depicts the story of Cinderella. It was designed by Edward Burne-Jones and painted by Lucy Faulkner. Burne-Jones account book for September 30, 1862 refers to : “10 designs for tiles, Cinderella paid £7.10s” which may well be the set made for Myles Birket Foster’s house, The Hill at Witley Surrey. The tiles were intended for an overmantel panel and four two tile figures, the original designs are in the V&A and Fitzwilliam. This set shows the colours having run during the firing, suggesting they were either trial samplers or rejects and kept by Lucy Faulkner. Other sets exist in the Gallery’s collection (WMG202), the Walker Art Gallery and the Sanford and Helen Berger Collection, The Huntington Library in California.

Details

Dimensions: 15.2 x 15.2
Object Type: ceramic
Material: earthenware tiles painted in enamels
Catalogue number: C82e
Designer: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Painter: Orrinsmith (née Faulkner) | Lucy
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs L. Hitch, 1954

Details

Dimensions: 15.2 x 15.2
Object Type: ceramic
Material: earthenware tiles painted in enamels
Catalogue number: C82d
Designer: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Painter: Orrinsmith (née Faulkner) | Lucy
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs L. Hitch, 1954

Details

Dimensions: 15.2 x 15.2
Object Type: ceramic
Material: earthenware tiles painted in enamels
Catalogue number: C82c
Designer and maker: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Painter: Orrinsmith (née Faulkner) | Lucy
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs L. Hitch, 1954

Details

Dimensions: 15.2. x 15.2
Object Type: ceramic
Material: earthenware tiles painted in enamels
Catalogue number: C82b
Designer: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Painter: Orrinsmith (née Faulkner) | Lucy
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs L Hitch, 1954

Details

Dimensions: 15.2 x 15.2
Object Type: ceramic
Material: earthenware tiles painted in enamels
Catalogue number: C82a
Designer: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Painter: Orrinsmith (née Faulkner) | Lucy
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs L. Hitch, 1954

Details

Dimensions: 15.2 x 15.2
Object Type: ceramic
Material: earthenware tiles painted in enamels
Catalogue number: C82
Designer: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Painter: Orrinsmith (née Faulkner) | Lucy
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs L. Hitch, 1954

Details

Date: c.1866-68
Dimensions: 10.5 x 15.6
Object Type: print
Technique: wood engraving
Catalogue number: K721
Designer: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1954

This is one of a series of illustrations to ‘The Story of Cupid and Psyche’ for the projected edition of ‘The Earthly Paradise’ begun in September 1865. The illustrations were engraved on wood by Morris and his friends and associates in the Firm. Burne-Jones did illustrations for some of the other tales in ‘The Earthly Paradise’, but the Cupid and Psyche wood engravings were the most completed part of the project which was abandoned in 1868 after trial pages, set in Basle and Caslon types at the Chiswick Press, did not prove satisfactory.

In 1881, a few copies of these sets of illustrations were made, apparently by Morris himself, by friction printing. A second series (numbering about 8 sets according to Sydney Cockerell) was pulled for Morris by Emery Walker at his premises at 16 Cliffords Inn during the Kelmscott Press years; all these were on Kelmscott Press paper. One of these sets, given to Cockerell by Jane Morris c.1898, is bound into a single volume (K775) owned by the William Morris Gallery. Other sets are in the Pierpont Morgan Library (Gift of John M. Crawford) and the Fitzwilliam Museum (J.R. Holliday Bequest 1927).

Drawings related to the Cupid and Psyche illustrations and other tales from ‘The Earthly Paradise’ are in the following collections: A volume of 86 preliminary drawings of various sizes executed in pencil, pen and ink or chalk, is now in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (648’27). A series of 47 finished designs in pencil on tracing paper was given by Burne-Jones to Ruskin, who presented them to Oxford University in 1875 (now in the Ashmolean). Another volume of 39 drawings formerly in the collection of F.S. Ellis is in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; 36 of these are on tracing paper, the remaining 3 on drawing paper; 21 relate to the Cupid and Psyche story though some are variants of scenes which were never engraved on wood; others are for the Story of Pygmalion and The Hill of Venus.

For other early proofs of The Oracle see K713 and K713a; for a later proof on Kelmscott Press paper see K775.

Details

Date: c.1866-68
Dimensions: 10.5 x 15.6
Object Type: print
Technique: wood engraving
Catalogue number: K713a
Designer: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Maker: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1956

For other early proofs see K713 on Michallet paper and K721; for a later proof on Kelmscott Press paper see K775.

Details

Date: c.1866-68
Dimensions: 15 x 20
Object Type: print
Technique: wood engraving
Catalogue number: K713
Designer: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Maker: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1954

Details

Date: c.1886
Dimensions: 14.5 x 6 x 3
Object Type: metalwork
Material: brass
Catalogue number: L5
Artist: Creswick, Benjamin (1853 - 1946)
Credit notes: Mackmurdo bequest, 1942

Identical figures appear on the settle designed by Mackmurdo and made by Collinson & Locke c. 1886 now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The settle, which has Herbert Horne’s ‘Angel with the Trumpet’ textile used for upholstered cushions and curtains, was almost certainly made for Pownall Hall, Cheshire which was largely decorated by the Century Guild. Benjamin Creswick was supposedly responsible for the brass work reliefs which appear in the upper cornice.
This plaque has small attachments above and below the main scene which are pierced with holes for fixing the piece, and suggest that it may originally have been intended for attachment to furniture. Another small rectangular plaque of the same subject is now in the Colchester & Essex Museum (brass 13.5 x 7 cm), presumably among other items given by Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo in 1942.

Details

Date: c.1890?
Dimensions: 15 x 6.5
Object Type: sculpture
Material: plaster
Catalogue number: S54
Artist: Chaplin, Alice Mary (1848 - 1921)
Credit notes: Presented by C. J. Whall, 1973

Alice Mary Chaplin was born in Sudbury Suffolk. Chaplin moved to London to study sculpture and settled in Chelsea. She produced statuettes and sculpture groups, often of animals, in bronze and terracotta. This is a plaster model of two lovebirds for a door-knocker. Between 1877 and 1900, Chaplin exhibited 18 works at the Royal Academy in London. She exhibited a statuette of a puma at the 1903 Arts and Crafts exhibition in London. Chaplin died at Fulham in London in 1921.

Details

Date: c.1968
Dimensions: 37 x 25
Object Type: sculpture
Material: bronze
Catalogue number: S50
Artist: Wolfe, Alfred Adrian (1891 - 1975)
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs Anna Wolfe, 1982

The original plaster from which this bronze plaque was cast was modelled in 1918. It is based on a photograph of William Morris showing him in an identical pose, taken between 1892-3. This bronze plaque was one of six cast casts made in around 1968 when the artist Adrian Alfred Wolfe presented one to the University of Essex for display in one of the University’s residences named after William Morris.
After Wolfe’s death in 1975, Mrs. Wolfe presented the other casts to the William Morris Gallery, as well as the William Morris Society for display at Kelmscott House, Princeton University, the South Place Ethical Society, Conway House, Red Lion Square and the Museum of Labour History, London.

Details

Date: designed c.1896-97, printed before 1940
Object Type: wallpaper
Technique: machine printed
Catalogue number: B126
Designer: Dearle, John Henry (1859 - 1932)
Retailer: Morris & Co.
Manufacturer: Jeffrey & Co.
Credit notes: Presented by Miss H. Brooks, 1991

Henry Dearle designed this wallpaper for Morris & Co. in the late nineteenth century. The design combines roses and small birds on a spotted background. Tom tit is a shortened version of ‘Tom titmouse’, which is an old English folk name for the common garden bird the blue tit. The Morris & Co. assigned pattern colourway number was 340, coming before ‘Oak tree’ (designed c.1896) and after ‘Thistle’ (designed 1897), therfore it seems likely Dearle designed Tom Tit around the same time, c.1896-97. This example was formerly in the possession of the architect William Edward Brooks (1879-1945).

Details

Date: designed c.1868-71
Dimensions: 57.2 x 84.4
Object Type: wallpaper
Catalogue number: B154
Possibly designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Possibly designer: Bodley, George Frederick (1827 - 1907)
Manufacturer: Arthur Sanderson and Sons Ltd
Credit notes: Presented by Miss H. Brooks, 1991

‘Venetian’ is one of two Morris & Co. wallpaper designs attributed to the Gothic-Revival architect George Frederick Bodley, the other is ‘Queen Anne’. Bodley became acquainted with William Morris in the late 1850s, by the 1860s he was commissioned by his firm to create designs for stained glass and ecclesiastical decoration. The wallpaper is a traditional repeating pattern of flowers and leaves and is based on a historic wallpaper design. Unlike Morris’s wallpaper designs the pattern is on just one plane, with a plain background.

The pattern repeat size is 26.7 x 57.2 cm. Amongst one of the earliest wallpapers produced by Morris, Marshal, Faulkner & Co. the first examples were printed with one colour on a white background, in later years the firm produced the pattern in an ever-increasing number of colourways. This example was printed by Arthur Sanderson & Sons, who bought the wallpaper designs and woodblocks from Morris & Co. when they closed in 1940.

Details

Date: designed c.1887-88, printed 1950-1990
Dimensions: 56.8 x 83.5
Object Type: wallpaper
Catalogue number: B150
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Manufacturer: Arthur Sanderson and Sons Ltd
Credit notes: Presented by Miss H. Brooks, 1991

William Morris designed Bruges wallpaper between 1887-1888, and it was manufactured from 1888 onwards. The large diagonal pattern consists of decorative ribbons intertwined with large flowers and foliage.

This version was printed using original Morris & Co., woodblocks by the firm Arthur Sanderson & Sons Ltd., who acquired the blocks from Morris & Co. when they closed in 1940. It is stamped on the reverse ‘Sanderson Wallpapers British Made’.

Details

Date: designed 1872
Dimensions: 57.3 x 85
Object Type: wallpaper
Catalogue number: B144
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Manufacturer: Arthur Sanderson and Sons Ltd
Credit notes: Presented by Miss H. Brooks, 1991

William Morris designed this wallpaper in 1872 (monochrome version) and 1874 (polychrome version). It was also used for a chintz from 1875, and for a woven damask. A related design (C1) is in the William Morris Society Collection, Hammersmith, in pencil and in black ink. It shows a rose, thistle, and leafy branch; in the final wallpaper, the thistle was replaced by a larkspur.

This version was manufactured by Arthur Sanderson & Son., the firm bought the original woodblocks from Morris & Co. when they closed in 1940.

Details

Date: designed c.1887-88
Dimensions: 57 x 83.7
Object Type: wallpaper
Catalogue number: B142
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Manufacturer: Arthur Sanderson and Sons Ltd
Credit notes: Presented by Miss H. Brooks, 1991

Details

Date: designed 1874, printed 1950-1990
Dimensions: 57.5 x 84
Object Type: wallpaper
Catalogue number: B141
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Manufacturer: Arthur Sanderson and Sons Ltd
Credit notes: Presented by Miss H. Brooks, 1991

‘Willow’ was designed by William Morris in 1874. The pattern is simple stylised representation of willow branches on a plain background. In 1887, Morris adpated the design to create ‘Willow Bough’ wallpaper, a more naturalistic version of this earlier pattern. ‘Willow’ was produced in a number of colourways, firstly using tonal shades on coloured backgrounds and later introducing colours on a white background. This example was printed by Arthur Sanderson & Sons who acquired the designs and wallpaper printing blocks from Morris & Co. when they closed in 1940.

Details

Date: designed 1874, reg 22 July 1875, printed 1950-1990
Dimensions: 57 x 83.7
Object Type: wallpaper
Catalogue number: B140
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Manufacturer: Arthur Sanderson and Sons Ltd
Credit notes: Presented by Miss H. Brooks, 1991

William Morris designed this wallpaper of scrolling acanthus leaves in 1874 and registered the design for Morris & Co. on 22 July 1875. The size of the repeat is 66cm and required 30 woodblocks to complete one repeat, making it one of the firm’s more expensive wallpapers, retailing for 16s a roll. The original design is in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (1941P413) and the working drawing in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (CIRC.297-1955).

This version was printed by the firm Arthur Sanderson & Sons Ltd., who acquired the original wallpaper printing blocks from Morris & Co. when they closed in 1940. The right edge is stamped with the diamond-shaped English Registry mark and the logo ‘MORRIS & Co.’. the reverse is stamped ‘Sanderson Wallpapers British Made’.

Details

Date: designed 1884, printed 1940-1950
Dimensions: 57.4 x 83.3
Object Type: wallpaper
Catalogue number: B139
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Manufacturer: Arthur Sanderson and Sons Ltd
Credit notes: Presented by Miss H. Brooks, 1991

William Morris frequently used tulips in his design for fabric and wallpaper. Here the small wild tulips form a mid ground with a foreground of ribbons of larger peonies intertwining with scrolling stems. Morris’s daughter May wrote how the character of this design was ‘all “Kelmscott” to me: the peony and the wild tulip are two of the richest blossomings of the spring garden at the Manor”. Kelmscott Manor was the Morris family’s country home in Oxfordshire.

Morris registered the design for ‘Wild Tulip’ wallpaper on 21st November 1884. The repeat is 64.8 x 26.7. This example in yellow ochre was printed by the firm Arthur Sanderson & Sons, after they bought the original woodblocks and designs from Morris & Co. when they closed in 1940.

Details

Date: design reg 1879, printed c.1940-50
Dimensions: 57.1 x 83.3
Object Type: wallpaper
Catalogue number: B138
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Manufacturer: Arthur Sanderson and Sons Ltd
Credit notes: Presented by Miss H. Brooks, 1991

William Morris registered the design for ‘Sunflower’ on 7 January 1879. The wallpaper incorporates a central sunflower head, with tulips, small flowers and a grape vine. The monochrome colourway and the vine gives the design a classical aesthetic. The firm produced it in a variety of colourways, mainly in yellow or green hues, and was one of their cheapest wallpapers making it best seller. Morris & Co. also produced the design in in oil colour on an embossed, foiled and lacquered gold background, which sold for 6 times the price. The repeat is 47 x 53.3 cm. The original design is in the collection of the William Morris Society (C4). This later version is stamped on the reverse with ‘Sanderson Wallpapers British Made’. Arthur Sanderson acquired the woodblocks from Morris & Co. when they closed in 1940 and continued to print using their name. This has the Morris & Co. diamond-shaped English Registry mark on the right edge, along with ‘MORRIS & COMPANY’ and the pattern number 51230 and price 23 shillings.

In Morris’s lecture ‘Making the Best of It’ (1880), he sets out his ideas on the most attractive flowers for the garden, of sunflowers he says “though a latecomer to our gardens, is by no means to be despised, since it will grow anywhere, and is both interesting and beautiful, with its sharply chiselled yellow florets relieved by the quaintly patterned sad-coloured centre clogged with honey and beset with bees and butterflies.”

Details

Date: designed 1862, printed 1950-1990
Dimensions: 57.1 x 83.3
Object Type: wallpaper
Catalogue number: B137
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Manufacturer: Arthur Sanderson and Sons Ltd
Credit notes: Presented by Miss H. Brooks, 1991

William Morris designed Fruit (also referred to as Pomegranate) in 1862 and it is one of his earliest designs for wallpaper. The pattern is formed of pomegranates, oranges and lemons surrounded by foliage and flowers. The original design is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (E.299-2009) and included olive branches which were removed in the finished wallpaper. Morris first tried printing wallpaper at his studio in Red Lion Square in oil colours from etched zinc blocks. Unsuccessful he ordered traditional pearwood printing blocks to be cut for ‘Fruit’ and production was then subcontracted out to Jeffrey & Co. of Islington, which specialised in the production of hand-printed wallpapers and continued to print the firm’s wallpapers.

This version was manufactured by the firm Arthur Sanderson & Sons, the firm acquired the original woodblocks from Morris & co. when they closed in 1940. It is stamped on the reverse ‘Sanderson Wallpapers British Made’ and ‘Morris & Co.’ on the right edge.

Details

Date: designed 1875
Dimensions: 53.2 x 111.5
Object Type: wallpaper
Catalogue number: B136
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Credit notes: Presented by Miss H. Brooks, 1991

Marigold was designed by William Morris and registered in 1875 as a wallpaper, but it possibly dates from c.1873, since it appears in the records of Morris & Co.’s wallpaper manufacturers Jeffrey & Co. between Jasmine (1872) and Lily (1874) wallpapers. The pattern incorporates larger marigold flowers amongst sprays of willow like leaves, on a sub-pattern of smaller foliage and flowers. The monochrome pattern was produced in a wide variety of colourways.

Morris also registered the design as a chintz later in 1875. Despite modern reproductions of Morris’s patterns being used for both wallpaper and textiles, Marigold is one of only three designs Morris specifically intended to be produced as both a textile and a wallpaper.

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