A particularly fine and earlier example of
the noted de Morgan pattern known as BBB
originally made for the artistic ironfounders
Barnard, Bishop and Barnard of Norwich. In
excellent colour, eight colours in all which is
rare, and with a rich purple heart to the
flower. One of the better examples for
manufacturing quality being very nearly
perfectly square, sensitively painted, bright
and colourful and the detail and shading better
than most examples.
Your attention is drawn to the foliage which
has a flowing line, precise points and the most
excellent shading. The flowerhead too
demonstrates the dexterity of the artist in the
sharpness of the petal points, note how the
striations on the petals are denser yet fade
smoothly towards their tips, even the purple
semicircles in the flower centre are more
numerous than on ordinary examples of the
design. The solitary painting imperfection is an
extraneous spot of brown, this was certainly
painted by one of the better painters at William
de Morgan & Co and will stand out as a fine
piece amongst examples in most collections.
Good clean verso Merton Abbey period mark,
1882 - 1888, this being a quality item probably
earlier in the date range. The design noted in
the literature, Lockett has a lustre version on
page 73 and Catleugh has a drawing on page 80
and it is pictured in the Morris & Co
catalogue sheet on page 41.
