Lewis Carroll's Fireplace at Oxford

Shown is Lewis Carroll's fireplace with a De Morgan ship triptych and red lustre birds and animals.

Around 1883, Dodgson selected De Morgan tiles for both the fireplace in the Common Room and also for his own rooms. He selected tiles that had some relevance to his earlier published works, (e.g., the Dodo, Eaglet, Fawn, some mythical creatures, and the ship triptych). The tiles in his own rooms were later made into a firescreen used in the Common Room.

Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson -- note that is not Charles Dodgson in the photo) was a good friend of the Rossetti family. Rossetti was a principal at Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co., where De Morgan began his tile career.

De Morgan Red Lustre Tiles: Backstory

William De Morgan made red lustre tiles in, or possibly before, his Chelsea period (1872-1881), making a series of fantastic ships, birds, beasts, and flowers that quickly became very popular. While most of the blanks for his chargers and vases were bought from Wedgwood, Minton, and other manufacturers, he later came to develop his own tiles, which were more moisture resistent and more accommodating to his glazes and transfer methods.

Victorian De Morgan Red Lustre Fireplaces

Debenham House (Peacock House)

Peacock House in Holland Park, London, was designed as a department story for Ernest Ridley Debenham by De Morgan's associate, Halsey Ricardo.