Moorcroft VOYSEY'S ORCHARD 101/14 Trial Vase dated 2.12.15 Retail Price £1590

Within the decorative arts, Charles Voysey (1857-1941), was an adventurous designer who embraced the notion of actually bringing the garden into the house, with birds and trees as favoured motifs, symbolising ‘unspoilt nature’. In 1899, Voysey created one of his most famous designs, hand woven into a woollen carpet manufactured by A. Morton & Co. in 1897 (the year that William Moorcroft was first employed by James Macintyre & Co), for the nursery at Berrington Hall, Leominster. The woven carpet shows the influence of William Morris's principles of pattern design with its use of plant forms and animals as standard motifs. In a very similar way, many of Rachel’s designs are dominated by flowing patterns incorporating birds, deer, hearts, flowers and trees in silhouette. The Moorcroft designer has manipulated Voysey’s patterns of yesteryear into immaculate and very contemporary ceramic artwork for modern homes. Voysey’s Orchard is a quaint testament to this talent and, curiously, it is also the namesake of the home which Voysey built for himself and his wife at Chorleywood in Hertfordshire.

Moorcroft's First Quality Retail Price £1590 with the Original price label on the base