Adoration of the Magi

Maker Edward Burne-Jones (British, 1833 - 1898)

Maker Morris and Company (British, 1861 - 1940)

Additional Title(s)

Star of Bethlehem
Design for Tapestry

Collections

William Morris Collection

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Datebefore 1888

Mediumwatercolor over graphite on wove paper mounted to canvas

Dimensions8 3/4 × 13 1/2 in. (22.2 × 34.3 cm.) sheet: 9 1/4 × 14 in. (23.5 × 35.6 cm.)

DescriptionMary and child at left seated in manger, angel standing to the right holding star and three magi, carrying gifts, crowns doffed. Forest background, floral foreground.

Inscribed unable to see verso

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Label TextThis watercolor is the design for a tapestry, originally produced for the chapel of Exeter College in Oxford in 1888. The drawing portrays the Holy Family, an angel holding the Star of Bethlehem, and the Three Kings bearing gifts for the Christ Child. The figures fill the composition like a sculptural frieze in a clear arrangement that the weavers of the tapestry could follow. This small watercolor, showing the full design, would have been used by Morris & Co. to attract patrons. The Adoration tapestry was produced eight times, and this design was later used in stained glass as well (2022).

Status

Not on view

Object number2000.5.521