Stained glass window

This stained glass window was manufactured by William Morris Co, a company synonymous with the British Arts Crafts movement. The company began designing stained glass from its inception as Morris, Marshall Faulkner in 1861 on the strength of Edward Burne-Jones' reputation in the field.

This window was designed by John Henry Dearle or J. H. Dearle (1860-1932), much later in the company's history - in the early twentieth century. Deale began working for Morris' as a teenager as a shop assistant before becoming a design apprentice. In 1890 Dearle was appointed Morris Co.'s chief designer.

As well as stained glass, Dearle created designs for wallpapers and textiles from tapestries and embroideries to carpets. Following Morris's death in 1896, Dearle took on the role of the company’s Art Director, and two years later, following the death of Edward Burne Jones, became Morris Co’s principal stained glass designer.

Morris Co produced two different levels of stained glass: one-off, signed commissions and catalogue designs that could be ordered in different colour-ways and which could be adapted for each client. This window is the latter type.

The design is of the ‘Angel at the Sepulchre with the Mary's’ and believed to have been first used at St. Stephen’s in Tonbridge, England in 1910. At least 15 adaptations of the design are known within the United Kingdom. What is not yet known, is whether or not this particular window came from an actual church. The window had been sitting in a glass workshop for approximately 40 years, before being gifted to its previous owner in the 1980s, who subsequently settled in New Zealand.

Morris Co stained glass windows can be viewed in a number of New Zealand churches, particularly in the Canterbury region. These include St James in Riccarton, Christchurch and St Mary's in the Esk Valley.