Two handled vase

A two handled vase from the Della Robbia Pottery in Birkenhead. It is decorated with a pair of figures. Part of a gift of 167 works presented to nine museums by Arthur and Helen Grogan through the Art Fund. The Grogans are two architects with a passion for British 19th- and 20th century works – paintings, drawings, ceramics and decorative. They became tenants of the National Trust property Standen in West Sussex designed by William Morris’s friend Philip Webb and lovingly recreated it as an Arts and Crafts family home. The house was the perfect setting for the Pre-Raphaelite and New English Art Club pictures they already had, and they continued to buy, always with an eye to what would suit the rooms. When the Grogans relinquished their tenancy, they donated several works to Standen and others formed part of this large gift.