Tile
ca. 1888â98
Classification
tiles
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Museum purchase through gift of Georgiana L. McClellan
Accession Number
1953-104-4
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
This exquisite tile, created by British artist and ceramicist William Frend Morgan around 1888–98, the revival of decorative arts during the Arts and Crafts movement De Morgan (1839–1917), initially a Pre-Raphael painter, turned to ceramics in the 1870s, founding studios in London and later Fulham where he produced thousands of handcrafted tiles. Influenced by medieval Persian and Hispano-Moresque pottery, his work emphasized bold, flowing designs of mythical creatures, flora, and fauna, rendered in rich underglaze colors and sometimes iridescent luster glazes—a technique he pioneered in Brita...