Candle Sconce

Details

Date: 1886
Dimensions: 47 x 31.8
Object Type: metalwork
Material: copper
Technique: repousse
Catalogue number: L9
Designer: Mackmurdo | Arthur Heygate | 1851 | 1942
Maker: Kellock Brown, William (c.1856 - 1934)
Credit notes: Mackmurdo bequest, 1942

This panel was designed by Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo and executed by the Scottish sculptor William Kellock Brown. It features a man surrounded by swirling drapery and an angel kneeling before him and clutching his legs. Kellock Brown was a member of the Art Workers Guild having trained at the Royal College of Art and the Royal Academy Schools in London.

Details

Date: designed 1903, printed 1950
Dimensions: 59.1 x 55.9
Object Type: wallpaper
Technique: block-printed in distemper
Catalogue number: B7b
Designer: Dearle, John Henry (1859 - 1932)
Manufacturer: Arthur Sanderson and Sons Ltd
Credit notes: Presented by Arthur Sanderson & Sons Ltd, 1950

Henry Dearle designed this wallpaper for Morris & Co. in 1903. The pattern combines clover flowers and tree blossom. The repeat size is 45.1cm x 53.3cm

This version was printed in 1950, using original Morris & Co. blocks by the firm Arthur Sanderson & Sons Ltd., who acquired the blocks from Morris & Co. when they closed in 1940. It is stamped down the right edge: ‘THE CLOVER’ and ‘MORRIS & Co’.

Details

Date: 1887
Dimensions: 29.2 x 34.3
Object Type: ceramic
Material: stoneware
Catalogue number: C30
Designer: Martin, Robert Wallace (1843 - 1923)
Manufacturer: R W Martin, London and Southall
Credit notes: Mackmurdo gift, 1942

Robert Wallace Martin was one of four brothers who ran the Martin Brothers pottery in Fulham (1873-7) and Southall (1877-1915). He was part of a movement of Arts and Crafts potters who, inspired by the simplicity and rustic appearance of medieval European and Japanese stoneware (a hard, dense kind of pottery), created salt-glazed stoneware, a strong, non-porous pottery with a distinctive ‘orange-peel’ texture. Martin’s output is characterised by groteque animals, vessels with faces, and rustic sculptural forms. Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo were all avid collectors of Martinware. However, despite the Martins’s success, they never made large profits and were only able to fire the kilns once or twice a year and the brothers lived in relative poverty. So-called ‘Wally bird’ tobacco jars such as this one were extremely popular. Similar examples exist in the British Museum and V&A.

Details

Date: 1900
Dimensions: 42 x 26.7 x 22.9
Object Type: sculpture
Material: plaster
Catalogue number: BrS28
Artist: Creswick, Benjamin (1853 - 1946)
Credit notes: Brangwyn gift, 1950

Man in shirt, trousers and apron seated on an anvil looking slightly downwards and leaning forwards to rest his arm on one knee, his foot resting on a pile of horse-shoes below and hammer and pincers, holding a long-handled mallet in one hand, the other resting on the edge of the anvil.

Details

Date: 1888 - 1907
Dimensions: 17.8 x 12.1
Object Type: ceramic
Material: earthenware
Catalogue number: C5
Artist: De Morgan, William (1839 - 1917)
Manufacturer: De Morgan, Sands End Pottery, Fulham, London, England
Credit notes: Mackmurdo gift, 1942

William Morris met William De Morgan in 1863, and their friendship and professional association would last until Morris’s death. There was a large degree of overlap in their design, production and sale processes. The Firm sold ceramic products of its own design and also those by De Morgan; by the 1880s De Morgan was the main supplier to the Morris shop. De Morgan also made tiles after designs by Morris. From the 1870s Morris & Co. relied on De Morgan to supply high quality coloured enamels, as commerical products contained high levels of borax which compromised the colouration and durability of the tiles. From 1882 – 1888, William De Morgan moved his premises to Merton Abbey, to be closer to Morris, who already had works there, on the banks of the River Wandle. In 1888 he moved to Sands End in Fulham, where this bottle was produced.
De Morgan regularly used motifs of animals to create densely decorated objects. Birds similar to those depicted here can be found throughout his design sketchbook, now held at the V&A Museum.

Details

Date: c. 1862-63
Dimensions: 15.2 x 15.2 each tile
Object Type: ceramic
Material: hand-painted overglaze earthenware
Catalogue number: C257
Designer: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Manufacturer: Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.
Credit notes: Purchased with assistance from the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, The Art Fund and Friends of the William Morris Gallery, 2006

Early in 1862, Edward Burne-Jones recorded in his account book (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge) a series of designs for painted tiles with subjects from Greek mythology. The Judgement of Paris depicts the episode from the Greek legend when Paris, Prince of Troy has to chose the most beautiful of the three godessess and presents an apple to Venus, thus setting in train the Trojan War. The Latin inscription translates as ‘The Judgment of Paris on great Mount Ida’.

Painted in the Red Lion Square workshops of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.- of which Burne-Jones was a founder-partner with Wiliam Morris, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown et al.- the tiles are an early and delightful example of the Pre-Raphaelite taste for depicting classical scenes in medieval guise. Paris is shown in cross-gartered leggings and huntsman’s cap, while the three godesses are distinctly late-Gothic in their bodily proportions. Identified by their named scrolls, the four figures stand in an enclosed, stylish landscape in the manner of a medieval tapestry or manuscript illumination.

Handpainted tiles were an important product of the Morris firm from its establishment in 1861 until the mid-1870s. Some were used as overmantels but others, as in this case, were intended to be framed and diplayed as pictures in their own right.

The only other known version of the tile panel is at Kelmscott Manor and differs in several details, notably that the scene is painted on 5-inch square tiles bordered with 12 blue tiles painted with an inscription by William Morris in black. It has been suggested that the Kelmscott Manor panel was to be shown at the International Exhibition at South Kensington later that year but was withdrawn from Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co’s exhibit when the ‘decorative value of verses’ was criticized by William Burges, one of the judges. If so, it is possible that this version, omitting Morris’s verses and with an integral simple inscription, was the version shown by the Firm at the Exhibition.

Details

Date: designed and manufactured post 1918
Dimensions: 62.9 x 96.5
Object Type: textile
Material: printed cotton
Technique: block-printed
Catalogue number: F367
Manufacturer: Morris & Co.
Designer: Dearle, Duncan William (1893 - 1954)
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1994

This Morris & Co. printed cotton was designed by Duncan William Dearle. Duncan suceeded his father as chief designer and artistic directior at Morris & Co. when John Henry died in 1932. Duncan provided textile and stained glass designs, as well as running the day to day production in the various workshops. He took his responsibilities seriously but his great love was music: before the First World War he studied music composition in Heidelberg University in Germany (where he also familiarised himself with the art of dyeing), and later got a scholarship to Oxford. He became an accomplished organist and a music composer. According to Edward Pain, an employee of Morris & Co, he was less interested in design than in music, spending his time practising the clarinet. There are only three known designs by Duncan. This is the largest complete example of his design ‘Indian Pink’ which features alternating rows of pinks and bluebells.

Details

Date: designed c.1862-3
Dimensions: 26.7 x 17.8
Object Type: metalwork
Material: copper
Catalogue number: L20a
Designer: Webb | Philip | 1831 | 1915
Manufacturer: Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1958

This type of candlestick was originally designed by Philip Webb as a part of the furnishings for William and Jane Morris’s Red House, Bexleyheath, Kent. Webb’s account book lists a design for candlesticks on 28 June 1863, for which he charged £1.10s. This pair in copper were given as a wedding present by Philip Webb to the architect Charles Winmill and his wife. Another pair, originally purchased from the Firm by Burne-Jones, are now in the Victoria & Albert Museum (M. 1130 & A-1926). For an identical single example in brass see H2.

Details

Date: c. 1861
Dimensions: 73.5 x 54.2
Object Type: design
Material: ink on paper
Catalogue number: A210
Artist: Rossetti | Dante Gabriel | 1828 | 1882
Credit notes: Cecil French bequest, 1954

This is a finished design for the central panel of a stained glass window in the south aisle of All Saints, Selsley, Cloucestershire. The church was refurbished by the architect G.F. Bodley, who entrusted the making of stained glass to Morris and Philip Webb. They in turn recruited Rossetti, who was asked to make a series of designs for glass in the chancel as well as for the glass to which the present cartoon is related, showing The Sermon on the Mount, in the church’s south aisle. The standing figure of Christ is seen with hands raised as he preaches. Seated on the left of Christ, and to whom he faces, are the figures of the Virgin and Mary Magdalene, and behind them Saints John and James, while on the right, and to whom Christ turns his back, appear St Peter and Judas Iscariot. Several of Rossetti’s friends are said to have sat as models for the various figures; George Meredith, the novelist for the figure of Christ; Christina Rossetti for the Virgin, though the face is not unlike that of Elisabeth Siddal; Mary Magdelene bears a strong strong resemblance to Fanny Cornforth, whilst Algernon Swinburne and Simeon Soloman were said to be the models for St John and St James; William Morris as St Peter and Gambart, the art dealer (whom Rossetti disliked) as Judas. Another preparatory drawing for the window is in Leeds City Art Gallery.

Details

Date: c. 1863-4
Dimensions: 140 x 70
Object Type: design
Material: pencil, sepia and watercolour on paper
Catalogue number: A211
Artist: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Credit notes: Cecil French bequest, 1954

This design is one of a number prepared by Edward Burne-Jones based on Geoffrey Chaucer’s ‘Legend of Good Women’, intended for an embroidered frieze for John Ruskin’s home. Burne-Jones had previously visited this subject in a series of tile panels produced for Morris & Co. in around 1861, and Morris himself had designed a series of wall hangings on the theme, intended for Red House, three of which are now located in the chapel at Castle Howard, North Yorkshire.

Here, Thisbe holds a sword and a mulberry leaf from the tree under which she is supposed to meet Pyramus, her lover. Before they can meet, she is frightened away by a ferocious lion, dropping her mantle as she flees. Pyramus arrives and, seeing the mantle, which has been torn and bloodied by the lion, he assumes the worst and kills himself with his sword. Thisbe soon returns to find her lover dead, and in her grief turns his sword upon herself.

The embroidery project was to be carried out by Burne-Jones’ wife, Georgiana, and the pupils of a girls’ school at Winnington Hall, Cheshire, run by Miss Bell, a friend of Ruskin. The work was never completed, however, as Georgiana remarked, “the joint embroidery scheme proved impracticable, and the drawings alone remained as a symbol of loving intentions”. These intentions did prove fruitful in the end, as the designs went on to be reused in stained glass windows made for The Hill at Witley, Surrey, of which six are now located in the Combination Room at Peterhouse College, Cambridge.

Details

Date: 1872
Dimensions: 105.5 x 100
Object Type: design
Material: watercolour, bodycolour and pencil on paper
Catalogue number: A258
Artist: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1954

This watercolour composition by Edward Burne-Jones is one of four designs for stained glass windows executed by Morris & Co. in 1872. They were made for the 18th century chapel at Castle Howard, North Yorkshire, and depict the Christian story of the birth of Jesus: ‘The Annunciation’, ‘The Nativity’, ‘Adoration of the Magi’, and ‘The Flight into Egypt’. The Morrises were good friends with the then Earl and Countess of Carlisle, George and Rosalind Howard, and would often exchange letters and pay visits. The Howards extensively modernised the interiors of their stately home with Morris & Co. designs during the late 19th century, notably redecorating the chapel and perhaps controversially covering a wall of Pellegrini frescoes with ‘Bird and Anemone’ wallpaper . Much of this was later removed, but the Arts and Crafts additions to the chapel, including these windows, remain to be seen today, a testament to their friendship.

Here, we see ‘The Nativity’ or scene of the birth of Christ, with Mary and Joseph gathered around the child, watched over by a host of angels. The bold, linear style is somewhat different to the lush, delicately painted masterpieces Burne-Jones became known for, and relates directly to the final product. We can see the artist beginning to imagine how the glass will fit together, which elements will be leaded and which details will be hand painted. This image would then have been worked up into a full-size cartoon before being transferred to glass. A window using this same design was reproduced by Morris & Co. in the early 20th century, and can be seen in the Epiphany Chapel at Winchester Cathedral, Hampshire.

Details

Date: c. 1891
Dimensions: 101.6 x 68
Object Type: design
Material: pencil, ink and watercolour on paper
Catalogue number: A37
Artist: Dearle, John Henry (1859 - 1932)
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1940

John Henry Dearle joined Morris’s employment in 1878 as an assistant in the Oxford Street showroom of Morris & Co., before being transferred to the glass painters’ studio and becoming an apprentice tapestry weaver. He eventually went on to become Art Director of Morris & Co. upon Morris’s death in 1896. After many years of training alongside Morris, Dearle began creating distinctive patterns in his own right. ‘Daffodil’ is one of his most successful early patterns. It combines the strong diagonal repeats favoured by Morris with attractive floral motifs. ‘Daffodil’ was extremely commercially popular and was used in many interiors designed by Morris & Co.

This design was for a printed cotton which was to be created using woodblocks. To the right of the image there is an instruction to the blockmaker. The William Morris Gallery also holds 10 woodblocks for the design.

Details

Date: c.1929-30
Dimensions: 137.3 x 201
Object Type: drawing
Material: chalk on paper
Catalogue number: BrD4
Designer: 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 third 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

Date: c.1900
Dimensions: 63.5 x 48.5
Object Type: textile
Material: wools and silks on silk
Catalogue number: F321
Maker: Jack, Annie Christian (1861 - 1942)
Designer: Jack, George Washington Henry (1855 - 1931)
Credit notes: Donated by Margery and Jessie Jack, 1972

This embroidered panel was designed and made by the couple George Washington Jack and Annie Christian Jack. Annie’s creative interpretation of George’s drawing makes the scene come to life through her rendering of the textures in the owl’s plummage, tree bark and pine-cones. The inscribed scroll below reads: “Then nightly sings the staring Owl tu whittu who”, taken from William Shakespeare’s comedy Love’s Labour’s Lost. The panel was exhibited by the Jacks at the Exposition des Arts Decoratifs de Grande Bretagne et d’Irlande at the Louvre, Paris in 1914 (catalogue number 633).

Details

Date: c.1904
Dimensions: 9.5 x 6
Object Type: metalwork
Material: enamel on copper
Catalogue number: L24b
Designer and maker: Partridge, May Hart, Mrs. ( - 1917)
Credit notes: Presented by Miss Joan Partridge,1968

This small but intricately detailed enamel plaque was made by May Hart Partridge, an accomplished enamellist who had been a student of Arthur Gaskin at the Vittoria Street School for Jewellers and Silversmiths in Birmingham, the centre of jewellery production in the early 20^th Century. As well as executing work of her own design, Partridge also did enamelling on C.R. Ashbee’s jewellery at the Guild of Handicraft in Chipping Campden. Partridge was part of an artistic family; her husband Fred Partridge was also a jeweller while his sister Ethel Mairet was a pioneering weaver, with links to both the British Arts and Crafts scene in Ditchling and the Japanese mingei (folk art) movement. May Hart Partridge’s life and career were tragically cut short when she took her own life in 1917.

Jewellery design and enamelling in particular were increasingly seen as appropriate and respectable artistic pursuits for women at the turn of the 20th century. In addition to May Morris, who designed and made her own jewellery, women such as Edith Dawson, Georgie Gaskin and Phoebe Stabler worked alongside their husbands producing outstanding pieces in the Arts and Crafts style. Enamelling also became a popular amateur hobby for wealthy women, such as those permitted to observe C.R. Ashbee at work in Chipping Campden for the price of £1 a week. Accomplished aristocratic female enamellers included Princess Marie Louise, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and Madeline Wyndham, who along with her husband Percy Wyndham commissioned Clouds House from Philip Webb.

Details

Date: 1890s
Dimensions: 17.5 x 15.2
Object Type: metalwork
Material: copper and brass
Catalogue number: L32
Designer and maker: Benson, William Arthur Smith (1854 - 1924)
Credit notes: Donated by Michael Whiteway, 2000

William Morris encouraged WAS Benson to set up his own metal workshop in 1880. In 1882, Benson established a foundry in Hammersmith and in about 1887, a shop in Bond Street. This copper and brass teapot was made around the 1890s, it appears as No.693 in WAS Benson’s ‘Catalogue of Metalware’, 1899/1900. It was often important for Arts and Crafts objects to look hand-crafted, but WAS Benson’s metalwork was unashamedly machine-made.

Benson was a founder member of the Art Workers’ Guild, established in 1884. Following the death of William Morris in 1896, he became Managing Director of Morris & Co. (for whom he also designed furniture and wallpaper). WAS Benson played an important role in exporting the Arts and Crafts Movement abroad. His work was popular in Europe and sold through Samuel Bing’s famous Paris shop, ‘L’Art Nouveau’.

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