Ribbed glass goblet with coiled decoration

In addition to designing Red House for William and Jane Morris, their friend Philip Webb designed glassware for use in their new home. This simple glass with minimal coiled decoration is typical of the plain, functional aesthetic favoured by Webb. Glasses like this one were some of the first objects sold by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., and continued to be produced into the 20th century.

This example probably dates from the c.1900 revival of the Webb range, examples of which were shown at the 1914 Exhibition of British Arts & Crafts at the Louvre, Paris. Its restrained, simple shape supports Nikolaus Pevsner's observation that it was the form of Arts and Crafts objects, rather than their decoration, that most influenced the modern movement.