Narcissus washstand designed by William Burges

Acquisition of a washstand in gilded wood and marble known as the Narcissus washstand. It was designed for Burges's bedroom at 15 Buckingham St, The Strand, which was decorated with a frieze of mermaids and sea monsters. In 1878 it was transferred to the Tower House which he had designed for himself in Melbury Road, Kensington. It was later purchased by the poet John Betjeman, probably during the 1940s and given by him to Evelyn Waugh, his Oxford contemporary and friend, in 1953.