Leather panel, from the Magpie and Stump, designed by Charles Robert Ashbee, made by Bill Hardiman, Essex House (Mile End), 1893-1894.

The panel is designed to be placed vertically but has lost some of the detail from around the edges. The main motif is a flower head, possibly a sunflower, on a stem with broken branches rising from the bottom left, with a smaller flower head on a separate stem branching off on the left. Another stem rising from the same root as that for the flower heads, curves up to the right of the large flower head, separating into two branches which continue up to the top of the panel. A third stem rising from a separate root on the bottom right of the panel divides into three smaller stems. The left hand stem splits into two further stems, one terminating in a leafy spray below the small flower head and the other curving behind the large flower head. The central stem bears a small flower head and the right hand one curves up the right hand side and ends in a leafy spray above the large flower head. There are small circular motifs on the left and right of the stem below this flower head and also on the left and right of the base of the stem rising from the bottom right hand corner.

Given by Messrs Wates Ltd

This is part of a set of leather panels, made by Bill Hardiman of the Guild of Handicraft for the staircase hall of the Magpie and Stump. C.R. Ashbee, who founded the Guild, designed and built this house on Chelsea Embankment for himself, his mother and sisters in 1893-4. The panels were stitched together to cover the back wall of the hall, against which the first flight of the staircase was placed, and the whole design shows magpies with foliage and flower heads.

In 1966 the Museum was given the opportunity to remove the leather panels from the house before it was demolished.

This leather panel is part of a set originally designed and made as wall coverings for the staircase hall in the Magpie and Stump. When put together the panels show a design of magpies with foliage, echoing the name of the house. The architect and designer, C.R. Ashbee designed and built this house on Chelsea Embankment in 1893-4 for himself, his mother and his sisters. The leather was modelled by Bill Hardiman, a member of the Guild of Handicraft, founded in Mile End, London by Ashbee in 1888. Members of the Guild lived and worked together on metalwork, jewellery, furniture and books. Hardiman, who joined the Guild in 1890 and left in 1906, became the chief modeller for metalwork but also worked on leather panels for upholstery and for wall coverings.

W.6-2008