Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 139, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

Leaves and Berries

Tile
ca. 1860-1870 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

'Leaves and Berries' is an early tile design produced by Morris & Co. These examples were formerly set within a fireplace in a house in Cambridge. The fireplace also included a set of six tiles depicting birds, probably designed by the architect Philip Webb.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleLeaves and Berries (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Tin-glazed earthenware, painted overglaze
Brief description
Tile, 'Leaves and Berries', Morris & Co., ca.1860-70
Physical description
Tile painted in blue, brown and yellow on a tin glaze with a design of leaves and berries in the form of a grid. The design is painted onto an already glazed and fired tile blank, produced in the Netherlands.
Dimensions
  • Each tile, approx. width: 15.2cm
Object history
Probably dating from the 1860s or early 1870s, these tiles (C.72 to 79-2005) were removed from the fireplace of a house in Cambridge during renovation in around 2003-4. The arrangement of the tiles within the fireplace is known (see RF 2005/468). The series of bird designs (C.72 to 77-2005) were probably designed by Philip Webb, and these are also known from stained glass from the Red House. A panel of glass of this design is in the V&A (C.63-1979; cat no. H5 in the 1996 V&A William Morris exhibition). Examples of the some of the tiles matching these designs are in the William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow (see Richard and Hilary Myers, William Morris Tiles, 1996, pp10-11), but the set of six represents the complete set, and as such are an important group. The remaining tiles from the fireplace (represented by C.78 & 79-2005) were of another early Morris & Co. design, Leaves and Berries (see pp14-15 of the same publication).
Subjects depicted
Summary
'Leaves and Berries' is an early tile design produced by Morris & Co. These examples were formerly set within a fireplace in a house in Cambridge. The fireplace also included a set of six tiles depicting birds, probably designed by the architect Philip Webb.
Associated object
C.78-2005 (Duplicate)
Bibliographic reference
Myers, Richard and Hilary, William Morris Tiles, Shepton Beauchamp, 1996, pp.14-15.
Collection
Accession number
C.78-2005

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Record createdOctober 28, 2009
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