Current Location: In storage
Titles
Dish with boat, mermaids and fish
Maker(s)
Designer:
De Morgan, William Frend
Decorator:
Passenger, Charles
Maker:
William De Morgan & Co.
Entities
Categories
Description
White earthenware, glazed and painted with silver-yellow and ruby lustre.
Circular dish with curved sides. The whole surface covered with a design in shades of red on a white ground, showing a cherub paddling a small boat and looking down at two mermaids, one of whom is catching his paddle, against a background of stylised sea, waves and giant sun; seven stylised fish chase each other around the rim. The outside of the dish is covered with concentric bands, alternately ruby and silver-yellow; within these is a a thin foot-rim.
Notes
History note: Lent by Rita Smythe, 2018
Legal notes
Bequeathed by Ian and Rita Smythe, 2023
Measurements and weight
Diameter: 23 cm
Height: 3.4 cm
Place(s) associated
Acquisition and important dates
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed
(2023)
by
Smythe, Ian and Rita
Dating
Victorian
19th Century, Late#
1888
CE
-
1897
CE
Note
Charles Passenger and his brother Fred joined the pottery as decorators in 1877 and 1879 respectively. In 1889 they became William De Morgan’s partners, along with Frank Iles (kiln-master from c. 1873). When De Morgan’s pottery closed in 1907, the brothers and Iles set up their own business in Brompton Road, which ran until 1911; and by agreement they continued to use De Morgan’s designs.
William De Morgan (1839-1917), now widely regarded as the most important ceramicist of the Arts & Crafts movement, also worked in stained glass and became a successful novelist. He was a close friend of William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones and married the Pre-Raphaelite painter Evelyn Pickering (1855-1919), in 1887. As a ceramicist, De Morgan was primarily a designer/decorator and chemist, experimenting widely with techniques and glazes, re-discovering methods for making and applying lustres and the colours of Iznik and Persian pottery and using them for a range of complex fantasy designs featuring ships, birds, flora and animals. This design dates from 1888-1898, when he worked in partnership with the architect Halsey Ricardo, at Sands End Fulham
School or Style
Arts and Crafts (movement)
People, subjects and objects depicted
Components of the work
Decoration
composed of
lustre
clear glaze
Materials used in production
White earthenware
Techniques used in production
Throwing
: White earthenware, slip-coated, glazed and painted with lustres
Inscription or legends present
Inscription present: around a small central curcle
- Text: W.D.M. FULHAM
- Location: Underside, centre
- Method of creation: Painted in ruby lustre
- Type: Mark
- Text: CP
- Location: Underside of base
- Method of creation: Painted in ruby lustre, in script capitals
- Type: Mark
References and bibliographic entries
Identification numbers
Accession number: C.57-2023
Primary reference Number: 226784
Stable URI
Audit data
Created: Tuesday 7 May 2019
Updated: Tuesday 16 January 2024
Last processed: Tuesday 16 January 2024
Associated departments & institutions
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
