As indicated to the edge, this 1862 London International Exhibition bronze winner’s medal was awarded to Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co for a stained-glass exhibit (number 6734 in Class 34).
Made to a design by Leonard C Wyon, the medal was among the first awarded to the firm that had been founded jointly only the previous year by William Morris, Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones, Charles Faulkner, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, PP Marshall and Philip Webb.
The idea was to create and sell medieval-inspired, handcrafted items for the home – although in its first few years the main business of the firm was in making ecclesiastic stained glass to cater for the church building spree that came with the ‘ritualist’ revival.
1862 London International Exhibition bronze winner’s medal – £2100 at Gildings.
The William Morris Gallery notes that seven stained glass panels designed by Gabriel Dante Rossetti showing the Parable of the Vineyard were all shown at the exhibition prior to being installed at the Church of St Martin’s, Scarborough.
A medal that marks a springboard moment for one of biggest names in British Arts & Crafts, it was estimated at £200-300 at the auction on April 27 but sold at £2100 to London decorative art specialist Blairman & Sons.
