This overmantel decorated with tiles painted by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. was installed over the fireplace in Old Hall in 1864. It was modified in 1873/4 by the addition of tiles depicting the two foundress queens. In 1875, a wooden canopy was added over this panel.
The painted tiles depict: the two foundress queens, the two patron saints, the Angels of Night and of Day, and a Labour of the Month for each of the twelve months.
Over the years, the glazing failed, and the colours faded: the panel has been retouched at various periods by painting over the glaze. In 2005, the panel was cleaned and again retouched.
| Margaret of Anjou | Angel of Night | Angel of Day | Elizabeth Woodville | |||||||||||||
| Jan. | Feb. | Mar. | ||||||||||||||
| St Bernard | St Margaret | |||||||||||||||
| Apr. | May | June | July | Aug. | Sep. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. | ||||||||
Left: Margaret of Anjou as Queen. Recognisable by the daisies (marguerites) in her dress.
Right: Elizabeth Woodville as Queen. Her costume and jewellery are modelled on those in the much-copied portrait.
Both queens were designed by Ford Madox Brown in 1873, and added to the earlier tiles.
Left: St Bernard, designed by Burne-Jones.
Right: St Margaret, designed by Rossetti.
Left: Angel of Night
Right: Angel of Day
Both designed by Morris.
Left: January, designed possibly by Burne-Jones, or possibly by Morris.
January is personified by the two-headed god Janus: the old head looks back to the old year, and the young head looks forward to the new year.
Right: February. “Warming” designed by Burne-Jones.
A young woman reads a Valentine card while warming herself in front of a fire, accompanied by a black cat.
Left: March. “Pruning”, designed by Ford Madox Brown.
A man sits on a tree branch, pruning. Beneath him, a white owl sits in a hole in the tree.
Right: April, designed by Morris.
A woman walks in a meadow of flowers, wearing a wreath of leaves, and holding a branch.
Left: May. “Falconry”, by Ford Madox Brown.
A woman holds a falcon, accompanied by a dog.
Right: June. “Mowing”, by Morris.
A man sharpens his scythe with a stone.
Left: July. “Reaping”, designed either by Morris or by Rossetti.
Right: August. “Threshing”, designed by Rossetti.
Left: September. “Vintaging”, designed by Rossetti.
A woman pours a bucket of new-picked grapes into a barrel.
Right: October. “Feeding pigs”, designed by Burne-Jones.
A woman shakes acorns from a tree to feed the pigs below.
Left: November. “Sowing”, designed by Ford Madox Brown.
Right: December. Slaughtering a pig, designed either by Ford Madox Brown or by Rossetti.
Links
See the William Morris Gallery for pictures of similar tiles.
Further reading
1980: Morris & Company in Cambridge : catalogue, by Duncan Robinson and Stephen Wildman[Fellow], pp. 26–9. (ISBN 978-0-521-23310-1, 978-0-521-29903-9)
1996: William Morris Tiles : The Tile Designs of Morris and his Fellow-Workers, by Richard James Myers (1946–2015) and Hilary Myers (née Wright), pp. 62–67 and plates 25–29. (ISBN 978-0-903685-43-6) [Old Hall fireplace overmantel]
1999: The Tile Decoration by Morris & Co. for Queens’ College, Cambridge: The Inspiration of Illuminated Manuscripts, by Michaela Braesel, in Apollo 149, no. 443 (January 1999), pp. 25–33. (ISSN 0003-6536) [reproduced by kind permission of Apollo Magazine and of the author]
2005: Condition Assessment and Treatment Report for the Old Hall, Queens’ College, by Hirst Conservation. [by permission]