The hare tile was designed by Philip Webb probably in 1868, although entries in Philip Webb’s accounts date from late 1869 and early 1870. The design appears to have been intended for production in Holland from the outset, and finely painted examples such as this were likely prototypes or showroom samples retained by the firm.
These Dutch tiles were produced for the Morris firm from three of Webb’s designs of about 1868–69. All three Dutch versions were used, together with the Scroll, Artichoke and ‘Webb Sunflower’ patterns, for a fireplace in a house in East Anglia where Webb undertook alterations in the early 1870s. The Dutch adaptations, often incorporating a characteristic Delft-style landscape background, demonstrate the freedom with which the tileries modified Webb’s original designs. Webb later reused his hare and raven motifs as studies for the animals in the Morris & Co. tapestry The Forest (Victoria and Albert Museum), designed in collaboration with William Morris and J. H. Dearle and woven at Merton Abbey in 1887.
