Burne-Jones first addressed the “Sleeping Beauty” fairy tale in the designs for a set of painted tiles produced by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company in 1864. The story was one with which Burne-Jones seems to have been particularly preoccupied as he returned to it repeatedly, culminating in the Briar Rose series, of which The Council Chamber is an example. Numerous preparatory sketches such as these survive, conveying the artist’s infatuation with this imaginary dream world.