making his own tiles during his Chelsea period were of variable technical quality often amateurish with firing defects and irregularities; as such he made extensive use of blank commercial tiles. Biscuit tiles of red clay were obtained from the Architectural Pottery Co. in Poole as these were hard and very durable. Dust pressed tiles of white earthenware were bought from Wedgwood, Minton and other manufacturers but De Morgan believed these would not stand frost. Eventually he developed a high quality biscuit tile of his own, which he admired for its irregularities and better resistance to moisture.


One of the first tile designs produced by De Morgan in the late 1870s was called 'Bedford Park Daisy' which proved to be of the most successful designs made by the De Morgan Company. Commercial tile manufacturers usually relied on some form of printed transfer sheets all exactly the same to guarantee uniformity. De Morgan, rejecting the 19th century passion for formal repetition, experimented until he found a means of duplicating a pattern while maintaining the individuality of each tile. Although the tiles were 'hand-painted', the paint was not applied directly onto the tiles. Using the 'painted paper' technique, the design was copied from a master drawing onto a thin piece of paper. This was then placed onto the tile and brushed with a liquid or powdered glaze. When the tile was fired, the paper was burnt away and the painted design became part of the glaze. This allowed decoration on the tiles to be done with precision but also gave the look of hand-painting.


The process also ensured that the same design could be repeatedly reproduced and also made using different colours.


Most of De Morgan’s tile designs feature images derived from nature including flowers, plants, birds and animals.


One series of tiles called Fantastical Creatures, also known as Beast tiles, feature mythological creatures including dragons and griffins whilst other tiles depict real animals from the natural world such as boars, snakes, eagles and peacocks. Today these remain the most affectionately appreciated and the most keenly sought after.


While his work is pure Arts and Crafts, De Morgan was influenced by many external sources, in particular the colour and style of the Middle East, seen in his use of glaze techniques and colour palette. Around 1873 he made a striking breakthrough by rediscovering the technique of lustre ware found in Hispano-Moresque pottery and Italian majolica. By 1875, he began to work in earnest with a Persian palette using dark blue, turquoise, manganese purple, green, Indian red and lemon yellow to create flamboyant floral studies and exotic fantastic creatures.


De Morgan’s signature style of decoration was not restricted to just ceramic tiles but actually covered a myriad of wares including chargers, vases, jugs and rice dishes. Some of these were made on site in his own works but many were bought as


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BUYERS GUIDE WI L L IAM DE MORGAN


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