Object Type
This substantial bowl was described on its acquisition as a punch bowl but it was certainly never used as such. Its generous proportions and the subject matter of the design are taken from the celebrated Hispano-Moresque ship bowls of 14th-century Malaga. these ship bowls are among the most prized of ceramics of collectors and museums. De Morgan's ceramics were also lovingly collected by admirers and this bowl would have been a prized possession.
People
William De Morgan (1839-1917) was a close friend of William Morris (1834-1896)and the two collected ceramics, textiles and other art works from Persia (modern-day Iran), Turkey and China, all of which influenced their own designs. The Reverend Stopford Brooke was clearly an admirer of De Morgan's work. His daughter, who presented this bowl in his memory, invited the Museum's Bernard Rackham, Keeper of Ceramics, to choose from 'many of the most beautiful pieces' in her father's collection. It was painted by Frederick Passenger who, with his brother Charles, was De Morgan's most talented decorator.
Physical description
Bowl, earthenware, painted in colours, 46 cm diam., 15.5 cm deep. Marks: "F.P." painted in black. This substantial bowl, painted in deep turquoise blues and purples, is an example of De Morgan's "Persian" wares. Described as a punch bowl, in both its generous proportions and the subject of the decoration-fantastic ships were one of his favourite subjects-it refers most closely to the celebrated Hispano-Moresque "ship bowls" of Malaga.
Place of Origin
London, England (made)
Date
ca. 1900 (made)
Artist/maker
De Morgan, William Frend, born 1839 - died 1917 (designer)
Passenger, Fred (painter (artist))
William De Morgan, Merton Abbey Factory (maker)
Materials and Techniques
Earthenware, painted
Marks and inscriptions
'F.P.'
Dimensions
Height: 15.5 cm, Diameter: 46 cm
Object history note
Designed by William De Morgan (born in London, 1839, died there in 1917); made at the De Morgan pottery, Sands End, Fulham, London; painted by Frederick Passenger (probably working 1898-1907)
Descriptive line
Bowl, earthenware, decorated with the image of a ship, painted in colours, designed by William Frend De Morgan, made at the De Morgan Pottery, Merton Abbey, painted by Fred Passenger, England, ca. 1885
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Baker, Malcolm and Richardson, Brenda, eds. A Grand Design : The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: V&A Publications, 1997. 431 p., ill. ISBN 1851773088.
A designer of tiles and glass for the William Morris firm in the early 1860s, William De Morgan began to decorate pottery and was running his own successful firm in London by 1873. He was a close friend of Morris and is thus associated with the English Arts and Crafts movement. In 1882 De Morgan moved to Merton Abbey and established a pottery site near Morris's textile works. Characterised by flat, stylized plant and animal motifs drawn with great liveliness, De Morgan's designs were generally applied to the pottery forms by assistants.
De Morgan's most formative influences were not English or European but rather more exotic. This substantial bowl, painted in deep turquoise blues and purples, is an example of De Morgan's "Persian" wares. Described as a punch bowl, in both its generous proportions and the subject of the decoration-fantastic ships were one of his favourite subjects-it refers most closely to the celebrated Hispano-Moresque "ship bowls" of Malaga. De Morgan, with Morris, was part of a circle including Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti that collected the ceramics and textiles of "Arabia" or "Persia," Spain, Turkey, and China. His richly coloured and lustreed pottery was inspired in particular by the lustreed and ornamented wares of Persia, the Iznik wares of sixteenth-century Turkey, and by Italian Renaissance majolica, although his depiction of quirky birds and animals belongs unmistakably to the Victorian world.
De Morgan ceased production in 1907, and by his death in 1917 he was better known as a novelist. When in 1923 De Morgan's daughter, Miss Brooke, wrote to the Museum saying that his work was "but poorly represented" in the Museum's collection and offering "many of the most beautiful pieces" by her father, ceramics curator Bernard Rackham chose four examples, including this striking bowl with its ship design evocative of travel to exotic foreign lands.
Lit. Stirling, 1922; John, 1951; V&A, 1952, no. I92; Pinkham, 1973, no. 24; Catleugh, 1983; Greenwood, 1989, plate 127
JENNIFER H. OPIE
Exhibition History
Precious: Objects and Changing Values (The Millennium Galleries, Sheffield 02/04/2001-24/06/2001)
A Grand Design - The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum (Victoria and Albert Museum 12/10/1999-16/01/2000)
Labels and date
British Galleries:
This bowl was designed by De Morgan whose inspiration were the 14th-century Moorish (Islamic) 'ship bowls' made in Malaga in southern Spain. Fred Passenger, the painter of this piece, was responsible for the decoration of a wide range of De Morgan's pottery displayed at Arts and Crafts exhibitions between 1888 and 1899. [27/03/2003]
Bowl
Fred Passenger, William de Morgan, England,
C.78-1923 Given by Miss Evelyn Brooke in memory of her father, the Rev.S.Brooke [23/05/2008]
Subjects depicted
Boats; Ships; Flags; Waves; Sails
Categories
Ceramics; Drinking; Earthenware; Tableware & cutlery
Collection code
CER
