Design for a Vase

Maker Unknown

Maker Morris and Company (London, British, 1861 - 1940)

Collections

William Morris Collection

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Daten.d.

Mediumwatercolor on paper

Dimensions12 1/4 x 7 in. (31.1 x 17.8 cm.)

DescriptionPoppies, moths and bees, on body of vase, set against light green ground. At lower left, 2 lightly pencilled butterflies appear, and on verso, there is a watercolor of the beginnings of another vase design with fish.

Inscribedrecto lower left in graphite: "Blue"

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Label TextThese designs for two vases are possibly the collaborative work of Philip Webb (1831-1915) and Kate Faulkner (1844?-1898). Webb is known to have designed for stained glass and ceramics as well as jewelry. The firm also often employed relatives and friends of its members, such as Burne-Jones's wife Georgiana (1840-1920) and Jane Morris's sister Bessie Burden (1842-1924). Kate Faulkner, the sister of one of the firm's early partners, Charles Faulkner (1834-1892), was an admirable craftswoman, contributing her skills to the firm not only as a decorator but also as a designer. She executed several textile designs in the late 1870s, two of which were also issued as tiles. The flatness of the designs on view for the vases suggests that they, too, may have served another function, perhaps as stencils.

Status

Not on view

Object number2000.5.7