Decorated with a green dragon in a roundel surrounded by an Iznik floral design. The reverse with alternating blue and turquoise concentric circles.

A turning point in William De Morgan’s career was a major commission from his friend Frederick, later Lord Leighton to install his collection of Iznik and Damascus tiles in the ‘Arab Hall’ of his house in Holland Park. This inspired his interest in Middle Eastern design. De Morgan continued his studies at the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum) and developed a repertoire of designs that are often (rather misleadingly) referred to as ‘Persian’.

Our dish dates from the most fruitful period of De Morgan’s career at Sands End, Fulham where he had moved his factory to in 1888 from Merton Abbey, Surrey.

He designed his own kilns for the factory there (V&A Museum no. E.1615-1917). and the scale of the production increased. Much of the work produced in this period is regarded as his most ambitious; our dish is one of the largest known.

Sand’s End Pottery kiln designed by William de Morgan, (V&A Museum no. E.1615-1917)

Charles Passenger and his brother Fred were talented artists and had been employed as painters by De Morgan from early on and stayed with him till the factory closed in 1907.

Condition:
Some slight discolouration, no restoration.

SOLD