William Morris: Kennet, 1883 – Porcelain Art Mug

Morris designed Kennet in 1883 and named it, like the other chintzes of those years, after a river that runs into the Thames. He had moved his printworks to Merton Abbey on the Wandle in 1881, and it was the water there that let him dye with indigo and wash the printed cloth properly. The rivers gave the patterns their names because the rivers made the patterns possible. Kennet is the one that looks most like water: the stems sway on a long diagonal and the leaves lie over as weed lies in a current.

The pattern carries two kinds of flower. One is a small open rosette seen straight on. The other is large, furled and seen from the side — and it is not an English flower at all. It is the pomegranate of Italian cut velvet, the motif Morris had studied at the South Kensington Museum, now the Victoria and Albert; the museum record for this length names those velvets as the source of his strongly diagonal patterns. At the centre of a design named after an English chalk stream sits a Mediterranean flower brought home from a museum case.

The mug carries the pattern as a frieze, at roughly a quarter of life size, set so that one whole pomegranate bloom stands uncut at the centre of the front, its stem sweeping away to either side. A flower seen straight on flattens as the cylinder turns; one seen in profile does not, and it leads the eye around the cup.

Fine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.

From the same series: Strawberry Thief, 1883 · Tulip, 1875

William Morris, Kennet, designed 1883; plain weave cotton, printed; this length c. 1920. 90.2 × 97.8 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Henry Chisholm, 1937.698. Public domain (CC0).

Selected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.