William de Morgan

by **croker** Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:39 am

I have shown this vase as De Morgan just about creeps into the 20th century ,his involvement in the pottery finished in 1907 but lingered on until 1910 under the Passenger brothers. this particular large vase 18.5 inches was made in his early Fulham period probably just before 1900 and decorated by Fred Passenger. We collected De Morgan for a number years along with Morris and co and other influential designers of the 19th century but decide to sell a few years ago and our collection was dispersed.

by **22 Crawford St.** Mon Jul 12, 2021 12:15 pm

Nice thing, for a long time ive just wanted a tile but they would give BL a run for his money, about the same price Surrender

by **croker** Mon Jul 12, 2021 12:29 pm

Hi, His tiles are very popular ,we had a fair number of them. The BBB pattern is the most common but still attractive but the rare triple lustre examples can command prices up to around £4000 for a single 6 inch tile, most of his lustre tiles are painted on commercial blanks often from Wedgewood.

by **dantheman** Mon Jul 12, 2021 1:07 pm

I love a new thread and William de Morgan is long overdue

by **ppcollectables** Mon Jul 12, 2021 2:05 pm

The william de Morgan foundation was based in an annex of Wandsworth library but when the lease was up the local ( tory ) council closed it down. Their collection of vases, chargers, tiles and tile panels was jaw-dropping. After a no. of years, when most of the collection was in storage, the Foundation has now partnered up with 3 complimentary organisations - Wightwick Manor near Wolverhampton, Watts gallery near Guildford and the Cannon Hall museum in Barnsley. There is also a good display at the Ashmoleum in Oxford.
The triple lustre tiles needed multiple firings so had many chances to fail in the kiln, the red lustre exotic animals also do very well along with the rare green variants.
With the high level of kiln failures and W de Morgans poor business accumen he never made any money from ceramics. After he gave up the pottery he became an author and had about 7 bestsellers before he died in 1917, they made him far more money than the pottery ever did but they have been completely forgotten. All 3 sites mentioned also have dilplays of paintings by Evelyn de Morgan - high quality paintings, initially at least with an influence of Burne- Jones.

by **croker** Mon Jul 12, 2021 2:31 pm

Hi , I still have some of his novels ,interesting but hard work for the modern reader. Evelyn kept the De Morgan pottery afloat in hard times by injecting money into the business. I think Evelyns paintings are ok but not really a patch on Burne Jones but then i could be biased. What is not often known to inexperienced collectors is that the wealthy Ida Perrin tried to restart the manufacture of De Morgan ware at Bushey Heath in 1923 with Fred Passenger, the items made are normally marked but are much inferior to the originals, i believe the pottery closed around1930.

by **philpot** Fri Jul 16, 2021 7:23 pm

He did some terrific work. Set off my love of modern studio pottery lustre work. Alan Caiger Smith and Sutton Taylor in particular. I have visited Wightwick house a number of times, and it is a simply gorgeous selection.

by **croker** Fri Jul 16, 2021 8:37 pm

I unfortunately got obsessed with De Morgan and other Victorian designers many years ago and we collected a fair number of pieces but the effect got rather overpowering so we decided to sell, the last pieces went through Reemans a couple of years ago. (the piece shown above didn't sell) ,we still have a few pieces of designer furniture from the period and a couple of De Morgan letters etc. I still have to sit on my hands when a good piece turns up to stop me from bidding. I find the whole late 19th century arts movement fascinating.

by **22 Crawford St.** Fri Jul 16, 2021 11:24 pm

I'm assuming they did well? Market is still good for quality pieces of his stuff

by **cycladelic** Sat Jul 06, 2024 2:00 am

Here's a 6" tile from the Merton Abbey period - c. 1882 - 1888.

I was recently in Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and it has quite a display of his tiles.