Music Cabinet

This cabinet was designed by Philip Webb and decorated with classical scenes by William de Morgan for Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co. It was originally one of a pair, the other with panels showing St George & the Dragon also by William De Morgan. Both cabinets were made for Isabel Olga Lucas, née D'avigdor (1843-1926) widow of the artist Horatio Joseph Lucas. The painted panels on the cabinet’s doors have been interpreted in various ways. The scene of the left may depict Hera, Muse Erato or Maia with a Young Hermes or Mercury holding the first lyre. The scene on the rights shows two male figures who may be Pan or Silenus instructing Dionysus or Bacchus to play the pipes

The cabinet was sold back to Morris & Co by Mrs Lucas's daughter Ruth Lousada who then sold it to Mrs Lucius Gubbins. Old photographs when in the possession of Ruth Lousada, show the cabinet originally had the back covered with a stamped, embossed leather paper, however this seems to have been removed by a subsequent owner who replaced it with 12 ruby lustre animal tiles by William De Morgan; these were still in situ when the cabinet was acquired by the William Morris Gallery in 1955. The tiles were removed in 1957 and catalogued separately when the back was filled with new waxed oak panels to match the rest of the piece.