Heraldic Devices for The Quest for the Holy Grail

Maker John Henry Dearle (British, 1860 - 1932)

Maker Morris and Company (London, British, 1861 - 1940)

Collections

William Morris Collection

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Daten.d.

Mediumwatercolor, ink and graphite on paper

Dimensions9 1/8 x 27 1/8 in. (23.2 x 68.9 cm.)

DescriptionTwo rows of small shields, showing individual knights coats of arms, some numbered, wll with checkmarks beside, some with 'x' above shield. Various light sketches all over pages of shields and devices. Names of knights written from left to right.

Inscribedleft to right in ink: "Gaheret, Urien, Galahad, K. Arthur, Lancelot, Percival, Bars, Agraval, Bordoyer, Bandemagus, Bleumberis, Bantwyn, Pharamand, Meliadas, Mordrid, Clarence, Tristram, Tarlans, Lucan"; in graphite below shields from left to right by a separate hand: "Gaheret, Arthur, Knight of 7 ways, Agraval, Bandyes le Constable, Pharamand of Gaul [?], Mordred, Clarence, Tristan, Tarlans de la Montaigne"; verso left side: "4 p.m. Friday"

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Status

Not on view

Label TextMorris's designs for the Stanmore Hall commission were his last tapestry designs. While Dearle had been responsible for the vegetation in the greenery panels, Morris devised the appropriate heraldry for King Arthur's knights, in the form of a series of shields that would hang entangled in the tree branches. The names of each of the knights are written above the shields, those of Lancelot matching the shields in the design to the right. In his research, Morris used several sixteenth-century French books on the arms of the Knights of the Round Table.

Object number2000.5.588