Lustre dish by William De Morgan
A dish with fantastic beasts in ruby lustre, inspired by Islamic and Italian pottery.
De Morgan rediscovered the lustre technique in London and worked with William Morris. His dishes and tiles are among the finest ceramics of the Arts and Crafts movement. Examples are in the De Morgan Collection at Wandsworth and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Materials: Earthenware with white slip and lustre glaze
Manufacture: The pattern was painted in copper and silver lustre and reduced in a special firing.
The copper-red lustre that glows and shifts in the light.
Fantastic beasts – dragons, fish, birds – filling the whole dish.