Della Robbia ceramics
Designed by Birkenhead Pottery. Tin-glazed Della Robbia maiolica pottery, decorated with metallic oxides, originated from Renaissance Italy. Standen’s Della Robbia ware comes from the 19th century Birkenhead Pottery, established in 1894 by Philip Rathbone (a pupil of Ford Madox Brown) and Conrad Gustave d'Huc Dressler. Despite using local labour and raw materials, the firm could not cover its production costs and went out of business in 1906.
Mantel clock
Lewis Foreman Day (1845-1910). Day was the founder and Master of the Art Workers’ Guild. Made of brass, with a black surface, or patina, there is a floral design in blue and white tiling around the face; the clock movement is by J.W. Benson. Day also created many wallpapers which many can be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum. This piece was acquired by Arthur Grogan.
Clavichord
Clavichords originated in the late medieval period. The note is made by small metal blades – tangents – hitting metal strings, sending vibrations through the bridge to the sound-board. Not loud enough for public performance, a clavichord would be used for private playing.
This instrument, still owned by the Burne-Jones family, was commissioned by John Mackail, as a present for his wife, Edward Burne-Jones’s daughter, Margaret. It was mad e in 1897 by Arnold Dolmetsch, the Haslemere-based instrument maker, who helped revive interest in Early Music. Burne-Jones decorated the case with an image of St Margaret and her dragon, and the instrument with a flower-gatherer. The case is inscribed with words composed by Mackail, dedicating it to hiswife, and desc ribing the instrument as the ‘ancient flower of the Muses’.
Copper bowl and other metalware
There is a range of W.A.S Benson’s designs here, including three table lamps (one for oil, two for electricity), a pair of brass and copper candle-sticks, a copper bowl and a door bracket with a tulip-shaped finial. A founder member of the Art Workers’ Guild, Mr ‘Brass’ Benson (as William Morris nicknamed him) played a central role in the Arts and Crafts Movement. From a wealthy Quaker family and classically educated at Oxford, he was never happier than when ‘making something’. He designed a huge range of items, which were both popular and useful, marketed not only through Morris & Co. but also through Benson’s own shop. Benson’s wares had fine lacquer coatings to prevent tarnishing of metal items in the damp British climate.
All these items were acquired by the National Trust’s first Custodian, Arthur Grogan, who lived at Standen in the 1970s and 80s.