Edward Burne-Jones - Study for a girl watering roses

"A figure in this pose was drawn by Burne-Jones in the mid-1860s, but the present drawing would seem to date from some years later. It is evidently a form of decoration, perhaps needlework, a field with which he became involved in the 1870s when he was asked to supply designs for the Royal School of Art Needlework, founded in 1872.
Alexander Ionides, the drawing's first owner, was the younger brother of Constantine Ionides of the Victoria and Albert Museum bequest, and himself a passionate collector. On his marriage in 1875 he took over his parents' house, 1 Holland Park, and proceeded to turn it into one of the great 'aesthetic' houses of the day, comparable to that created at the same period by F.R. Leyland at 49 Prince's Gate. Burne-Jones was one of the many artists and designers who contributed to it. He was responsible for four of the paintings, and may have made this sketch for some detail of the decoration." - Catalogue notes

Study for a girl watering roses (and detail)
inscribed with colour notes (lower centre, in the margin)
pencil, fragmentary watermark
57/8 x 45/8 in. (15 x 11.7 cm.)