Pyramus and Thisbe were Babylonian lovers in Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' (IV, 55-465), as well as Chaucer's 'Legend of Good Women' and were retold again in Shakespeare's 'Midsummer Night's Dream'. This drawing along with one of Thisbe are described as being for tiles in the 1935 Birmingham catalogue. They appear far too detailed to be used as such and are not divided by a grid to show individual tiles as are other well-developed designs. The physiognomy of both Pyramus and Thisbe in the drawing are closely related to facial studies Burne-Jones made of Maria Zambaco in 1866 and 1867, so this drawing may date to as late as 1868. He later employed her facial features in the 1872-76 'Pyramus and Thisbe' triptych (now in the Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Birkenhead). Additionally, the verso is most likely a compositional sketch for the St. George series of drawings and paintings, executed contemporaneouslly with the Pyramus on the recto. This sketch probably is for the third panel in the series, 'The Princess draws the fatal Lot', as it closely resembles both the finished pencil drawing (1865-66, now in the British Museum) as well as the oil painting (1866-67, now in Hanover College, Indiana, USA).
Inscribed recto: And at the laste this Piramus ys come / But al to long, allas, at home was hee: / The moone shoone, men myente wel ysee, / And in his way, as that he come ful faste / His eighen to the grounde adoun he caste. - and on the verso: cape face shifting out with hand / handsome face / eyes flat / hands on shoulder Quoted from Chaucer's 'Legend of Good Women' Incipit Legenda Tesbe Babilonie Martiris. Although Burne-Jones in the Fitzwilliam Account Book entry for November 1865, claimed that he had "not done" the design for Pyramus and Thisbe, as the form of the present drawing shows it would appear that it was intended to have been executed as a tile design, as the technique used is similar to that made in the execution of a stained glass windows by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company, in which the initial drawing was over-worked in sepia to clarify the lines for the copyist. However for some reason the Company did not execute a tile for Birket Foster and as yet no other commission for it has come to light.