De Morgan, who began his career painting stained glass for William Morris’s company, noticed iridescent effects in silver paint and then experimented to achieve lustered glazes on earthenware inspired by fifteenth-century Hispano-Moresque wares. This charger combines red and yellow lusters to describe fish swimming through a leafy pond. It was once owned by Morris, who displayed similar ceramics on his mantelpiece at Kelmscott House, Hammersmith, London.