SAPFM Museum Furniture Collection

Flowerpot Fire Screen

Designed by William Morris (English, 1834-1896)

Flowerpot Fire Screen, Designed by William Morris (English, 1834-1896), Design early 1880s, Wood, cotton or linen ground, si…
Maker
Designed by William Morris (English, 1834-1896)
Date
Design early 1880s
Medium
Wood, cotton or linen ground, silk floss
Dimensions
101.6 × 59.7 × 32.4 cm (40 × 23 1/2 × 12 3/4 in.)
Form
Stand
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession
2018.845
Credit line
Gift of Crab Tree Farm Foundation
The two fire screens in the collection [2018.845 and 2018.846] illustrate the variety of ways in which one could purchase objects from Morris & Co. The Flowerpot Fire Screen was likely embroidered, assembled, and sold completed as seen here. May Morris herself stitched several versions of the Flowerpot panel. The Honeysuckle design may have been a kit that was sold for amateurs to embroider themselves, as the stitching is less precise. Both of these designs could also be made into cushions, and they continued to be sold as kits decades after they were introduced.
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