The imagery on which William de Morgan relied for the whole of that part of his life dedicated to being a potter, was actually very narrow. You had ancient ships and you had mythical birds and animals time and time again, all of them dressed in colours taken directly from the Middle Eastern colour palette. Even more curiously, that work was decorated mostly, but not exclusively, by the Passenger Brothers, Charles and Fred, who actually continued to run the de Morgan studio long after the potter had left to become a successful novelist. The flowers developed into hallmark emblems – those famous fanned cornflowers and bright yellow sunflowers with only passing nods to fruit, birds and flowers of the field. It was rather as if a Moorcroft designer decided to create little else besides poppies, violets and daffodils. Even so, before criticisms are levelled against de Morgan, the principal output of his studio was tiles and not vases, chargers or plates. Only when the latter emerged from the kilns were they seen in all their glory – magnificent in size, colour and concept and rightly described as being among the finest English ceramics ever to have been made.

Designer, Emma Bossons FRSA, was anxious to show both the limitations and the glorious humour embedded in the work of William de Morgan and the result was The Collection of Smiles. The colour palette selected for eight remarkable pieces of art pottery was also derived directly from Moroccan plasterwork, yet only a single tile makes an appearance. At the other end of the scale, an all-embracing prestige vase makes a dramatic debut on the 576/15 shape. To this single piece, all other seven pieces pay homage to acknowledge their design origins. On each piece, cornflowers shaped like fans make an aquamarine and blue-shaded appearance, yet in so doing, they link each piece, one to the other. Feathers and flames are deep crimson and each piece is designed against a clean, ivory ground. It should never be asserted that the central part of each piece in The Collection of Smiles is based on some kind of myth or legend. It is not. Emma has created eight superb images, all designed to make you smile

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