Refectory table by Philip Speakman Webb, England

Refectory table by Philip Speakman Webb, England, 1865 - 1870. Museum no. W.45-1926

Refectory table
Philip Speakman Webb (1831 - 1915)
Made by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co
London, England
1865 - 1870
Museum no. W. 45-1926

Plain oak rectangular panel table with cut-away decoration and column legs with decorative plinth bases and a runner board.

This table, designed in 1860 by Willam Morris' friend, the architect Philip Webb, has the simplicity of much Arts and Crafts work. This piece is hand-made and demonstrates the concept of 'honesty'; the wood is unpolished and the construction is not disguised.

Sussex armchair by Philip Speakman Webb (attrib.), England

Sussex armchair by Philip Speakman Webb (attrib.), England, 1870 - 1890. Museum no. CIRC. 288-1960

Sussex armchair
Attribulted to Philip Speakman Webb (1831 - 1915)
Made by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co
London, England
1870 - 1890
Ebonised beech, rush seat
Museum no. CIRC. 288-1960

Sussex armchair in ebonized beech with a rush seat.

The 'Sussex' chair (possibly designed by Philip Webb) was part of a range of modest furnishings available from the Morris shop. It was available in various styles in black or red. Like other furniture made by the firm in their early years, the shape is based on early country designs. It sold in large numbers and became the firm's most familiar product.

Sideboard by Philip Speakman Webb, England

Sideboard by Philip Speakman Webb, England, 1861. Museum no. CIRC. 540-1963

SIdeboard
Philip Speakman Webb (1831 - 1915)
Made by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co
London, England
1861
Ebonised wood with painted and gilt decoration
Museum no. CIRC. 540-1963

Ebonised wood sideboard with painted and gilt decoration and panels of stamped leather paper, with a three shelf upper stage. Handles and hinges of brass and copper with incised decoration, and floral decoration on the main sideboard and shelves.

Chair designed by A H Mackmurdo, England

Chair designed by A H Mackmurdo, England, 1881 Museum no. W.29-1982

Chair
A H Mackmurdo (1851 - 1942)
Made by Colinson and Lock
London, England
1883
Carved and painted mahogany, leather upholstery
Museum no. W. 29-1982

A.H. Mackmurdo designed this chair in 1881. It was produced in the following year by his newly formed Century Guild, the first of those loose associations of craftsworkers mentioned above. The flowing swirling pattern in the back precedes Art Nouveau design by more than ten years. The difference is that, flame-like and contorted though this pattern may be, it is a decorative panel set in a rather simple chair in an eighteenth-century style. In an Art Nouveau chair, the whole frame would have writhed in sympathy with its back.

Art Nouveau design is remarkable for the way in which the pattern explores, describes and envelops the total structure. Where Arts and Crafts use flower patterns in surface decoration, Art Nouveau make decorative use of the whole plant.

Cabinet by Morris & Co, England

Cabinet by Morris & Co, England, 1893. Museum no. CIRC. 40-1953

Cabinet
George Washington Jack (1855 - 1932)
Made by Morris & Co
London, England
1893
Mahogany with marquetry of sycamore and other woods
Museum no. CIRC. 40-1953

This cabinet (actually a writing desk) exemplifies the changes that were taking place within the Arts and Crafts movement: the 'honest' wood of the carcase has been covered with veneer; the old English oak-leaf motif has been added in marquetry.

The developed Arts and Crafts style was exhibited to great acclaim abroad and acquired by museums in Europe. Artists and designers in France, Belgium, Austria and Holland, and later, Germany, were inspired to develop the end-of-century style now called Art Nouveau. The developed form of this style was not welcomed or appreciated in Britain. Most of the major Arts and Crafts designers, such as C R Ashbee and W R Lethaby, spoke against Art Nouveau in quite vehement terms. Despite this, it is possible to see in their work the seeds that on the continent flowered into this style.

Armchair designed by Smith and Brewer, England

Armchair designed by Smith and Brewer, England, c. 1860. Museum no. CIRC. 511-1962

Armchair
A. Dunbar Smith and Cecil Brewer
Probably made by Heals
England
c. 1860
Ash wood and rush seat
Museum no. CIRC. 511-1962

Ladderback ash chair with turned stiles and front legs and a woven rush seat. Probaby designed by the architectural partnership of Smith and Brewer, and made in London in about 1897, this armchair is in a long-established rural style and uses indigenous ash and rush. The Arts and Crafts movement respected tradition, as well as regional variation, and favoured work that used local materials. In an attempt to be closer to these traditions, some leading members of the movement moved their workshops to the countryside.