William Morris met William De Morgan in 1863, and their friendship and professional association would last until Morris’s death. There was a large degree of overlap in their design, production and sale processes. The Firm sold ceramic products of its own design and also those by De Morgan; by the 1880s De Morgan was the main supplier to the Morris shop. De Morgan also made tiles after designs by Morris. From the 1870s Morris & Co. relied on De Morgan to supply high quality coloured enamels, as commerical products contained high levels of borax which compromised the colouration and durability of the tiles. From 1882 – 1888, William De Morgan moved his premises to Merton Abbey, to be closer to Morris, who already had works there, on the banks of the River Wandle. In 1888 he moved to Sands End in Fulham, where this bottle was produced.
De Morgan regularly used motifs of animals to create densely decorated objects. This vase features cranes and snakes. Birds similar to those depicted here can be found throughout his design sketchbook, a pricked design of the bird is at the V&A Museum (E.1428-1917).
