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St. George and the Dragon

Maker: James Powell & Sons

1916

Holy Trinity church, Bembridge, Isle of Wight

Memorial to Lieutenant Colonel Macdonald Moreton, who was killed in action in 1915

A similar or identical memorial to the same person can be found at St Mary’s, Iwerne Minster Dorset

The construction is fabulous and the glazes captivating. Seeing it close up makes it clear that such work is not just comprised of squarish tesserae; this one (bar the background colour) has interlocking sections of all shapes and sizes, some quite large — more like stained glass construction, in fact. Yet they still fit together perfectly. [Commentary continues below.]

Photograph and text by Gail Bennett, and formatting and comment about the Powell order book by Jacqueline Banerjee.

You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL, or credit the Victorian Web in a print document. [Click on the images to enlarge them, and mouse over the text for links.]

The design may be earlier: it seems to be more in the Arts and Crafts (perhaps late Pre-Raphaelite?) medievalist style of the last quarter of the previous century. The work appears in the firm's order book, not only for both churches, but also in a less costly version for Newnham, Glos. (Order book, see p.33). "Opus George" does, in fact, seem to be one of their popular designs, and therefore could well date from an earlier decade. Unfortunately, we do not know who designed it: as Dennis Hadley says in his introduction to the book, "Only spasmodically does the record give the name of the designer" (1).

Bibliography

"Powell’s Opus Sectile Locations." Compiled by Dennis Hadley (see item 741, p. 33) Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society. Web. 14 January 2022.


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Created 14 January 2021