威廉·莫里斯 威廉·迪·摩根 | 鷹蛇鬥虹彩瓷盤

What inspired William Morris and his contemporaries? I'm Ainsley, Assistant Curator at the William Morris Gallery and today we're talking about nature and how it inspired arts and crafts designers From a young age, William Morris was fascinated with the natural world He grew up exploring the woods and gardens of Woodford Hall his childhood home on the edge of Epping Forest One of his favourite books was John Gerard's Herbal a 16th century reference book on plants and their uses Gerard's Herbal became an important resource throughout Morris' life When William Morris began designing his famous floral patterns he took direct inspiration from nature However, William Morris insisted not on mimicking nature directly but on referencing nature and suggesting its beauty that can be found in the hedgerows and countryside William Morris' friends and collaborators shared this approach as can be seen in this plate designed by William de Morgan William de Morgan was a close friend of William Morris and sold his ceramics through Morris & Co. They were also close collaborators They had neighbouring factories at Merton Abbey in the 1880s and they shared influences and clients This plate shows that he too chose not to imitate nature directly but that he took inspiration from it to influence his designs William de Morgan has chosen a floral background However, it doesn't mimic any plant particularly but is unmistakably botanical It depicts an eagle in combat with a snake a common motif from classical Roman Byzantine designs The plate is also an example of William Morgan's lusterware technique Lusterware was common in Islamic designs but was relatively unknown in the English world at this time The plate features metal particles in the glaze that reveal different brilliant colours when you look at it in different lights In de Morgan's depiction, the animals aren't rendered realistically but the simple motifs and shapes suggest the true beauty that could be found in eagles' feathers and the scaly patterns on snakes The original design for this plate now in the collection of the Victorian Albert Museum shows the plate without the floral background This gives us an insight into William de Morgan's design process It's clear from this that he designed the scene first with the eagle and snake and added the floral background later to the final product As well as being a common motif found in Roman designs the scene showing the combat between eagle and snake has been observed in the real world as well reflecting the natural inspiration behind this design