executed by Morris, Marshall & Faulkner, London
glazed ceramic, with possibly original carved oak frame
14⁷⁄₈ x 8³⁄₄ x 1³⁄₈ in. (37.5 x 22 x 3.5 cm) (framed)

A. Charles Sewter, The Stained Glass of William Morris and His Circle, New Haven, 1974, pp. 63 (for a discussion of this series), cat. no. 276, 358, 408-413, 556, 559 (for related examples)
G. Naylor, William Morris by himself: Designs and writings, Boston, 1988, inside cover, 152-153 and 322 (for related examples)
Fired Earth: 1000 Years of Tiles in Europe, exh. cat., Scarborough Art Gallery, Somerset, 1991, pp. 122, nos. 349-350 (for related examples)
R. and H. Myers, eds., William Morris Tiles, The Tile Designs of Morris and his Fellow-Workers, Somerset, 1996, p. 76, no. 109 (for a related example)
Morris & Company Tiles, exh. cat., William Morris Gallery, London, 1996, nos. 75-79 (for related examples)

Around 1865, William Morris designed a series of twelve figures playing various instruments. This 'Minstrel' series were executed in both ceramic tiles and stained glass, and featuring figures with wings, as Angels, and without, as in the current lot. A stained glass version of the present design is in the collection of the William Morris Gallery, London (cat. no. C221ii).

The positioning of the stance in the present Minstrel can be related to the larger original drawing by Morris of the ‘Angel with a Pipe’, in the collection of The Tate, London (ref. A00816). The overall treatment is also clearly related to the design by Morris for another tile panel from the series, ‘Girl with a Flute’, found in the same institution (ref. A00817).

The series was revisited by Charles Fairfax Murray, a prominent artist at Morris, Marshall & Faulkner (from 1875 reorganised as Morris & Co.), who redrew Morris' designs under his supervision with a different treatment to the foliage and figures. One of the drawings by Charles Fairfax Murray for this series can be found in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (acc. no. WA1940.61).