• Style/technique: Arts & Crafts lustre
• Manufacturer: William de Morgan
• Designer: Morris & Co
• Dimensions: 6" x 6"
• Date: circa 1877

 

A singularly excellent example of design and manufacture from William Morris and William de Morgan. Now I am not a great fan of either Morris (& Co) or de Morgan (& Co) for much of their tile work is substandard, badly fired and poorly decorated and deteriorated over time, but this is an outstanding and rare example of excellence normally associated with lustres by Maw & Craven Dunnill.

The tile bears a superb alternating quartered design of complex stylised roses and swirling stems in two tones of copper lustre giving excellent shades of red and pink. The roses differ in style of petals and their number, the upper flower having three rings of seven petals and the lower having ten in the two outer rings and five in the middle. The hand painting has a precision rarely found on tiles by de Morgan and the firing is truly excellent, the kiln manager, who may well have been de Morgan at this time, deserves applause for his skill.

The tile was made by de Morgan for Morris & Co in the early Chelsea period, 1872 - 1881 and characteristically uses bought in tiles rather than his own buff clay blanks. Wm de Morgan later continued with a simplified version of the design in his own range, the second image below is from 'William de Morgan Tiles' by John Catleugh and shows de Morgan's later version wherein it is described as "a standard repeat design adroitly painted and beautifully fired". This example can not be demeaned by calling it a standard repeat design for it is far from standard, it has several times the complexity and is considerably better painted, also it is very well fired with good strength and consistency of colour across the tile.

On a Wedgwood style blank as was the norm with de Morgan's lustres of this period. A rare opportunity to find an early period de Morgan lustre of such style and with such great colour, complexity and quality of execution. A good and early example of lustre decoration by de Morgan, well painted and fired, and a rare design, a tile well worth getting a little excited about.

Condition: Good
Price: £725 (approx $1400)
Ref: 02629

Chips to the upper corners, another small and a few tiny around the edges. A hairline 1 1/2 inches long origin a little under an inch from the top of the right edge, some light scratches and a little wear to the decoration near the top edge where the glaze has pooled. The tile displays very well with excellent colour and lustre.

Image from 'William de Morgan Tiles' by John Catleugh showing de Morgan's considerably simplified version wherein it is described as "a standard repeat design adroitly painted and beautifully fired".

The image is full size at 72 dpi (about 430 pixels wide) in maximum quality JPEG format. A larger 120 dpi image also in maximum quality JPEG format can be forwarded by email if required.

The image is a little oversize rather than cropped close to the edges so that the edges can easily be seen and any chips etc can be quickly spotted. Other marks described are usually not visible at all when the tile is viewed straight as one normally sees it and can only be seen with a critical eye when the tile is tilted to catch imperfections in reflected light. For more details of how we describe marks see Condition.