Peony tile

Details

Date: 1863
Dimensions: 48 x 19
Object Type: design
Material: ink and watercolour
Catalogue number: BlA410
Designer: Webb | Philip | 1831 | 1915

Philip Webb’s design for details of a canopy tracery. To the lower left, a narrow column surmounted with a foliate capital supports a triple-lobed arch with a trefoil detail. A gothic spire sits above the column and to the left of a band of decorated crenellation. Above this is a small pier adorned with blind tracery and surmounted with a simple gable. Springing from this is an ornate buttress topped with three curling ornaments. At the top is a spray of a feather and flower. Behind the motive are two light arches drawn in pencil with the rest in black, yellow, and sepia inks.

Details

Date: c.1885
Dimensions: 25 x 12.5
Object Type: textile
Material: silk on cotton
Catalogue number: F454
Maker: Burden, Elizabeth (13.12.1841 - 22.08.1924)
Credit notes: The widow of Tim Langley, purchased with assistance from the Friends of the William Morris Gallery and the Art Fund, 2018

This embroidery is a part of a chalice cover or pall- used to cover the chalice cup for holy communion. It is stitched by Elizabeth (Bessie) Burden, the sister-in-law of William Morris. The figurative design of a young winged angel minstrel, clothed in medieval style dress holding two clashing cymbals is based on Morris’s c.1867 design for stained glass. A design drawing for a chalice cover from from the same series, depicting an angel with a harp, is in the William Morris Society collection (D213)

Burden’s innovative application of Morris’s design appears to have been inspired by medieval embroidery. The figure is embroidered in silk, using the eponymous ‘Burden Stitch’, applied here to great effect, particularly in the fine features of the angel’s face. The background is intricately embroidered with couched gold thread to create a three dimensional pattern of flowers. At some point in the embroidery’s history it has been framed and Burden’s signature affixed below.

Burden, along with her sister Jane, Morris’s wife, was to play a central role in the production of many of Morris’s finest embroideries. She helped stitch the medieval inspired hangings that furnished William and Jane’s first home, Red House and would later play a central role in his firm’s embroidery department. Although Morris and Burden had a fractious personal relationship, Morris described her as ‘a First-rate needle-woman’ with a ‘complete mastery of the theory & practice of all kinds of needlework’.

In addition to working for Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., Burden supplemented her income by teaching embroidery at the home she shared with her sister and brother-in-law at 26 Queen Square in Bloomsbury and later became an instructor at the Royal School of Needlework (RSN). Whilst at the School she popularised a type of tapestry stitch that could be used to great effect for embroidery figures, as exemplified in this embroidery. The stitch was renamed ‘Burden Stitch’ in the School’s Handbook of Embroidery in recognition of Bessie’s contribution; a woodcut showing the stitch was also included in the volume on the grounds that the RSN was frequently asked to describe it.

Most interestingly, it bears a striking resemblance to c.1890s embroidery ‘Minstrel with Cymbals’ by Morris’s daughter May, now in the collection of the William Morris Society. Although there are noticeable differences- Burden’s Angel is winged and set against a gold couched background, whereas May’s figure is without wings and the background is of an orange tree, the similarities, from the folds in the Angel’s clothes, to the details in the hands, makes it possible that this example by Burden, the older and more experienced embroider, inspired her niece May to create her own later version of the design.

Details

Date: 1888
Dimensions: 33.3 x 20.4
Object Type: design
Material: pencil, ink and watercolour on paper
Catalogue number: D294vi
Artist: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Credit notes: WMG Purchase, 1963

This drawing is a preliminary small-scale finished drawing for an embroidered panel ‘The Orchard’. An article in the Century Guild’s publication ‘Hobby Horse’ Vol. 3 1888 refers to May Morris having just completed the finished embroidery as a pair of curtains. ‘The Orchard’ became one of May Morris’s most popular designs. The Day book of the embroidery section of Morris & Co. which runs from 1892 – 96 (now in the V&A Museum) lists five versions made in 1893 alone. The panels were made as portieres each taking about fourteen and a half weeks work and cost £48 when sold fully completed.

The finished embroideries included an inscription on scrolls across two panels (both panels identical in design) of a poem by William Morris ‘The Flowering Orchard’, specifically written for the silk embroidery and referred to in the 1888 Hobby Horse. The poem, as with several other verses he compiled for various tapestries/embroideries, was published in ‘Poems by the Way’ in 1891. The lines read:

‘Lo, silken my garden & silken my sky,
And silken the apple boughs hanging on high,
All wrought by the worm in the peasant carle’s cot
On the mulberry leafage when summer was hot.’
Another version showing a single panel is similarly inscribed with lines:
‘Lo waneth the summer, the apple boughs fade
Yet fair still my garden ‘twixt sunlight & shade’.

A finished version embroidered by Theodosia Middlemore in 1894 is on the Victoria & Albert Museum: Circ.206-1964.

Details

Date: design registered 5 October 1875
Dimensions: 216 x 91.5
Object Type: textile
Material: cotton
Technique: block-printed
Catalogue number: F391
Attributed designer: Faulkner, Kate
Manufacturer: Morris & Co.
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1998

The delicately meandering carnations in this printed textile are characteristic of the lightness and movement in patterns by Kate Faulkner (1841-98), one of the most skilled designers to work for Morris & Co. Introduced to Morris through her brother Charles, who was one of the founding partners of ‘The Firm’, Faulkner initially executed painted decoration on tiles and furniture before creating her own designs for ceramics, wallpaper and textiles. The simple two tone colour scheme of this pattern is typical of many of Faulkner’s designs, and adds to the airy feel of this piece, with the large blue carnations in the foreground subtly bound to the small flowers in the background by means of swirling vines. As well as creating designs for Morris & Co., Faulkner also designed several wallpapers directly for Jeffrey & Co.

This textile once belonged to the Arts & Crafts furniture maker Edward Barnsley. It has been backed and edged with a blue lining fabric.

Details

Object Type: printing block
Material: pearwood
Catalogue number: R324
Retailer: Morris & Co.
Manufacturer: Barrett's of Bethnal Green Road
Credit notes: Gift of John Lewis Partnership, 1980

This printing wood block with used to print Morris & Co.’s designs onto cotton and was made by the firm of Barrett, 249 Bethnal Green Road. William Morris’s original drawing, or those of his other chief designer’s, would be transferred onto a pearwood surface using tracing paper. Morris would check all the blocks for accuracy before the pattern was carved into the surface by Barrett’s carvers. Each block was cut to match a different colour of the design and had to register correctly to ensure the pattern was printed accurately. Small pins were inserted in the edge of the block which when printed left tiny dots of colour. This allowed the printer to line the blocks up in the right place.

At Merton Abbey the cloth was stretched over a blanket underlay on one of the long tables in the printing shop. The printer would press the printing block into a dye-pad and then lay it into position on the fabric. The block was then tapped with a mall (a led weighted mallet) to ensure an even impression on the cloth. The printer then lifted the block, applied more colour and repeated the process down the whole length of the fabric. By this time the first colour had dried, allowing the application of second colour.

Details

Object Type: printing block
Material: pearwood
Catalogue number: R609
Retailer: Morris & Co.
Manufacturer: Barrett's of Bethnal Green Road
Credit notes: Gift of John Lewis Partnership, 1980

Details

Object Type: printing block
Material: pearwood
Catalogue number: R610
Retailer: Morris & Co.
Manufacturer: Barrett's of Bethnal Green Road
Credit notes: Gift of John Lewis Partnership, 1980

Details

Object Type: printing block
Material: pearwood
Catalogue number: R608
Retailer: Morris & Co.
Manufacturer: Barrett's of Bethnal Green Road
Credit notes: Gift of John Lewis Partnership, 1980

Details

Object Type: printing block
Material: pearwood
Catalogue number: R607
Retailer: Morris & Co.
Manufacturer: Barrett's of Bethnal Green Road
Credit notes: Gift of John Lewis Partnership, 1980

Details

Object Type: printing block
Material: pearwood
Catalogue number: R606
Retailer: Morris & Co.
Manufacturer: Barrett's of Bethnal Green Road
Credit notes: Gift of John Lewis Partnership, 1980

Details

Object Type: printing block
Material: pearwood
Catalogue number: R605
Retailer: Morris & Co.
Manufacturer: Barrett's of Bethnal Green Road
Credit notes: Gift of John Lewis Partnership, 1980

Details

Object Type: printing block
Material: pearwood
Catalogue number: R603
Retailer: Morris & Co.
Manufacturer: Barrett's of Bethnal Green Road
Credit notes: Gift of John Lewis Partnership, 1980

Details

Date: 22.07.1869
Object Type: archival
Material: paper
Catalogue number: J849
Publisher: Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.
Credit notes: Gift of Francis Leach, 1957

This printed receipt is for a payment of 19 shillings from Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. to F.R. Leach & Co, the decorator and stained glass painters. The receipt is dated 22nd July 1869 for ‘Man’s time at Liverpool’. During this period Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co. were working on stained glass windows for St John the Baptist Church in Tuebrook, Liverpool. The church was designed by the Gothic Revival architect G.F. Bodley, with the highly decorated interior of the church a collaboration between Bodley, Charles Kempe, F.R. Leach and Morris.

Details

Date: 1896
Dimensions: 18.8 x 14.6
Object Type: photograph
Material: platinum print
Catalogue number: PhJ901xxxii
Photographer: Evans, Frederick H. (26.06.1853 - 24.06.1943)
Credit notes: Gift of Mary Sloane, 1962

William Morris and Frederick Henry Evans had shared interests in typography, literature and architecture. Evans was a talented photographer and had supplied Morris with lantern slides for his lectures on architecture. In 1896 Morris invited Evans to photograph Kelmscott Manor, his country home in Oxfordshire. Morris and his wife Jane shared the house with the Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti from 1871 to 1874, and it remained a country retreat for Morris and the artists and intellectuals in his circle until his death in 1896.

Evans was a skilled architectural photographer, in this series he captures the unspoiled craftsmanship and organic feel that first attracted Morris to Kelmscott. After Morris’s death he assembled a number of these images in a memorial portfolio.

Details

Date: 1919
Dimensions: 25 x 35
Object Type: watercolour
Material: watercolour on paper
Catalogue number: W239
Artist: Wornum, Dulce ( - 1933)
Credit notes: Gift of Antony Little, 2017

Watercolour of the Morris & Co. George Street showroom. This watercolour was commissioned for use in a 1919 pamphlet advertising the move of the Morris & Co.’s showroom, two years previous from 449 Oxford Street to 17 George Street, Hanover Square. The move occured during the First World War in 1917 and was perhaps the reason that this pamphet was not published until 1919.

In this watercolour we can see how the showroom was designed to look like a living room, showcasing some of Morris & Co.’s most popular patterns, like Daisy and Fruit. We can also see a version of the Pilgrim in the Garden Tapestry hanging over the fireplace. This tapestry was first woven in 1901 based on a chalk drawing made by Burne-Jones in 1881 of a scene from the from the medieval poem Romaunt de la Rose.

Details

Date: c.1929-32
Dimensions: 19.7 x 12.9
Object Type: photograph
Catalogue number: P810
Sitter: Sheldrick, Percy

The art of high-warp weaving had almost died out in Britain until reintroduced by William Morris. The tapestry being woven here at Merton Abbey by Morris & Co. employee Percy Sheldrick is one of a series of six panels illustrating the legend of the Holy Grail. The original design was drawn by Edward Burne-Jones with the workshop assistants drawing the background detail. The first set of six were produced in 1894 for W.K. D’Arcy, an Australian mining millionaire. Later on further panels were woven for other clients. Between 1929-32 Percy Sheldrick (depicted here), with the help of Sidney Mears, wove The Summons and The Attainment from the Holy Grail series for Sir Henry Beacham of Lympne Castle near Hythe in Kent.

Details

Date: 1891
Dimensions: 20.6 x 14 (closed)
Object Type: book
Material: paper
Catalogue number: K967
Author: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Publisher: Reeves & Turner
Owner: Morris, Jenny (1861 - 1935)
Credit notes: Miss E. M. Pugh Bequest, 1963

Morris’s ‘News From Nowhere’ was first published in serial form in Commonweal in 1890. In 1891 it was reprinted in book form by Reeves and Turner. It was from this later edition with a few corrections that the text for the Kelmscott Press edition was set up. The illustrated frontispiece, designed by Charles Gere, shows the entrance to Kelmscott Manor, Morris’s country home in Oxfordshire.

Details

Date: 03.02.1889
Dimensions: 16 x 11
Object Type: photograph
Material: photograph
Catalogue number: P660
Sitter: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs Charles Bramley from her husband's collection, 1962

This striking photograph of May Morris was taken on 3 February 1889 at Hammersmith Terrace, London. Seated with her guitar in front of a curtain made from Morris & Co. fabric, May was likely rehearsing for a Socialist League performance.

The photograph is one of a series taken that day, including one of her standing (see WMG:P652) as well as group photograph (held at The Wilson, Cheltenham) capturing May alongside Henry Halliday Sparling, Emery Walker, and George Bernard Shaw—all active members of the Socialist League. From 1885, May took part in Socialist plays and entertainments, often performing with Eleanor Marx and Shaw. She also ran a choir and remained a keen guitarist throughout her life.

May understood that music, theatre, and social gatherings were powerful tools for bringing people into the Socialist movement. She later wrote two plays: Lady Griselda’s Dream (1898) and White Lies (1903).

Details

Date: 1877
Dimensions: 46.5 x 26.2 sheet size
Object Type: design
Material: pencil and watercolour on paper
Catalogue number: BLA465
Designer: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)

‘Swivel’ was one of William Morris’ first designs intended specifically for woven fabric. This fabric was initially produced by textile contractors employed by Morris & Co., as weaving required a level of skill and equipment not yet available to the firm prior to the establishment of the Merton Abbey textile workshop, though Morris & Co. also continued to employ a number of textile contractors well into the 20th century. Nevertheless, in the late 1870s Morris set about learning to weave himself, using this knowledge to inform his designs, which made full use of the idiosyncrasies of the process. Morris then set up looms to his own specification, allowing the weavers to reproduce his intricate designs more faithfully. Initially starting with one loom and employing a single French weaver at his premises at Queen Square, Morris eventually established a workshop with four hand-operated jacquard looms, worked by master weavers from Spitalfields, who then passed on their skills to younger employees, preserving their craft for future generations. William Morris used the term ‘damask’ to define the smoother, lightweight cotton and silk fabrics in the Morris & Co. catalogue, as opposed to ‘tapestry’, which referred to the heavier, woollen fabrics.

Details

Date: 1906
Dimensions: 37.1 x 24
Object Type: print
Material: paper
Technique: drypoint
Catalogue number: P531
Designer: Strang, William (1859 - 1921)
Printer: Strang, David
Sitter: Walker | Emery | 1851 | 1933
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1972

Emery Walker was a close friend and collaborator of William Morris. He was a master printer and typographer who shared Morris’s passion for high-quality book design and craftsmanship. Walker played a key role in inspiring Morris to establish the Kelmscott Press in 1891. His expertise in printing techniques and his knowledge of fine typography influenced Morris’s approach to creating beautifully designed books. After Morris’s death, Walker continued to promote the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement and became an important figure in the world of printing and design.

Details

Date: 1874
Object Type: photograph
Catalogue number: PP5/Z25
Photographer: Hollyer | Frederick | 1838 | 1933
Sitter: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Sitter: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Sitter: Mackail (née Burne-Jones), Margaret (1866 - 1953)
Sitter: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Sitter: Morris (née Burden) | Jane | 1839 | 1914
Sitter: Morris, Jenny (1861 - 1935)
Sitter: Burne-Jones, Philip, Sir (1861 - 1926)
Sitter: Burne-Jones, Georgiana (1840 - 1920)
Sitter: Jones, Edward Richard (1801 - 1889)

Photograph taken in the garden of the Grange, Fulham. From left to right (back row): Edward Richard Jones, Margaret Burne-Jones, Edward Burne-Jones, May Morris and William Morris. From left to right (front row): Philip Burne-Jones, Georgiana Burne-Jones, Jane Morris and Jenny Morris.

Details

Date: 1888
Dimensions: 22.9 x 17.5
Object Type: drawing
Material: pencil on paper
Catalogue number: D133
Artist: Burne-Jones | Edward Coley | Sir | 1833 | 1898
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs Angela Thirkell, 1953

Burne-Jones drew the caricature on or shortly after the evening of Thursday 1 November, when Morris gave the lecture on ‘Tapestry and Carpet-Weaving’ at the first Arts & Crafts Exhibition, held at the New Gallery in Regent Street, London. The paper is watermarked 1888 and printed with the address 27 Young Street./ Kensington Sq. W. This was the Mackail’s address between 1880-1898. Mr & Mrs JW Mackail were the son-in-law and daughter of Edward Burne-Jones.

Details

Date: 02.07.1870
Dimensions: 34.1 x 50.5
Object Type: drawing
Material: pencil on paper
Catalogue number: D183
Sitter: Morris (née Burden) | Jane | 1839 | 1914
Artist: Rossetti | Dante Gabriel | 1828 | 1882

This intimate portrait of Jane Morris, William Morris’s wife, was drawn by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Rossetti was a key associate of William Morris and a founding member of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. when it was established in 1861. When he drew this work in 1870 he was involved in an intense emotional relationship with Jane Morris, which complicated his work with the Firm. In 1875 Morris restructured the Firm as Morris & Co., buying out the original partners including Rossetti.

Details

Date: designed 1862, printed c.1950
Dimensions: 100.5 x 52.3
Object Type: wallpaper
Catalogue number: B9cii
Designer: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Manufacturer: Arthur Sanderson and Sons Ltd
Credit notes: Presented by Arthur Sanderson & Sons Ltd, 1950

William Morris designed Fruit (also referred to as Pomegranate) in 1862 and it is one of his earliest designs for wallpaper. The pattern is formed of pomegranates, oranges and lemons surrounded by foliage and flowers. The original design is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (E.299-2009) and included olive branches which were removed in the finished wallpaper. Morris first tried printing wallpaper at his studio in Red Lion Square in oil colours from etched zinc blocks. Unsuccessful he ordered traditional pearwood printing blocks to be cut for ‘Fruit’ and production was then subcontracted out to Jeffrey & Co. of Islington, which specialised in the production of hand-printed wallpapers and continued to print the firm’s wallpapers.

This version was manufactured c.1950 by the firm Arthur Sanderson & Sons, the firm acquired the original woodblocks from Morris & co. when they closed in 1940.

Details

Date: designed 1879
Object Type: wallpaper
Catalogue number: B112a
Designer: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs C. de Lisle Nichols, 1970

The fragments of Morris & Co. wallpaper were taken from Leybourne House, Wormley, Godalming, Surrey. This house was built in 1850, near the site of Birket Foster’s future house, ‘The Hill’, at Witley which Morris & Co. designed the interior for.

In Morris’s lecture ‘Making the Best of It’ (1880), he sets out his ideas on the most attractive flowers for the garden, of sunflowers he says “though a latecomer to our gardens, is by no means to be despised, since it will grow anywhere, and is both interesting and beautiful, with its sharply chiselled yellow florets relieved by the quaintly patterned sad-coloured centre clogged with honey and beset with bees and butterflies.”

Details

Date: designed c.1878, printed before 1924
Dimensions: 1099.8 x 55.9
Object Type: wallpaper
Technique: block-printed
Catalogue number: B50.2
Manufacturer: Jeffrey & Co.
Retailer: Morris & Co.
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1955

William Morris registered the design for ‘Sunflower’ on 7 January 1879. The wallpaper incorporates a central sunflower head, with tulips, small flowers and a grape vine. The monochrome colourway and the vine gives the design a classical aesthetic. The firm produced it in a variety of colourways, mainly in yellow or green hues, and was one of their cheapest wallpapers making it best seller. Morris & Co. also produced the design in in oil colour on an embossed, foiled and lacquered gold background, which sold for 6 times the price. The repeat is 47 x 53.3 cm. The original design is in the collection of the William Morris Society (C4). This roll in green was acquired from the retailer Maple & Co. Furniture in 1955 from their old stock of wallpaper.

Details

Date: design reg 1879, printed c.1940-50
Dimensions: 57.1 x 83.3
Object Type: wallpaper
Catalogue number: B138
Designer: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Manufacturer: Arthur Sanderson and Sons Ltd
Credit notes: Presented by Miss H. Brooks, 1991

William Morris registered the design for ‘Sunflower’ on 7 January 1879. The wallpaper incorporates a central sunflower head, with tulips, small flowers and a grape vine. The monochrome colourway and the vine gives the design a classical aesthetic. The firm produced it in a variety of colourways, mainly in yellow or green hues, and was one of their cheapest wallpapers making it best seller. Morris & Co. also produced the design in in oil colour on an embossed, foiled and lacquered gold background, which sold for 6 times the price. The repeat is 47 x 53.3 cm. The original design is in the collection of the William Morris Society (C4). This later version is stamped on the reverse with ‘Sanderson Wallpapers British Made’. Arthur Sanderson acquired the woodblocks from Morris & Co. when they closed in 1940 and continued to print using their name. This has the Morris & Co. diamond-shaped English Registry mark on the right edge, along with ‘MORRIS & COMPANY’ and the pattern number 51230 and price 23 shillings.

Details

Date: designed c.1878, printed before 1924
Dimensions: 1099.8 x 55.9
Object Type: wallpaper
Technique: block-printed
Catalogue number: B50
Designer: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Manufacturer: Jeffrey & Co.
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1955

Details

Date: designed 1879, manufactured 1968
Dimensions: 195.6 x 55.9
Object Type: wallpaper
Catalogue number: B108
Designer: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Manufacturer: Arthur Sanderson and Sons Ltd
Credit notes: Presented by Arthur Sanderson & Sons Ltd, 1968

William Morris registered the design for ‘Sunflower’ on 7 January 1879. The wallpaper incorporates a central sunflower head, with tulips, small flowers and a grape vine. The monochrome colourway and the vine gives the design a classical aesthetic. The firm produced it in a variety of colourways, mainly in yellow or green hues, and was one of their cheapest wallpapers making it best seller. Morris & Co. also produced the design in in oil colour on an embossed, foiled and lacquered gold background, which sold for 6 times the price. The repeat is 47 x 53.3 cm. The original design is in the collection of the William Morris Society (C4). This later version in turquise on purple was made by Sanderson & Co. Arthur Sanderson acquired the woodblocks from Morris & Co. when they closed in 1940 and continued to print using their name. This has the ‘MORRIS & COMPANY’ stamp and the pattern number 138780 and price 38 shillings.

Details

Date: 11.02.1876
Dimensions: 81.3 x 65.1
Object Type: design
Material: pencil and watercolour on paper
Catalogue number: A39
Artist: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1940

Despite Morris’s desire to create products using traditional handcrafts, he also designed carpets to be manufactured by machine. Morris’s machine-woven carpets were of a higher quality than other commercially available examples and were used in many fashionable homes. ‘Honeycomb’, one of five carpet designs registered in 1876, is a woven wool carpet that was manufactured by H.C. McCrea and later at Morris’s own premises at Merton Abbey. ‘Honeycomb’ is relatively unusual among Morris’s patterns in so boldly emphasising the underlying stucture of the design rather than the floral/foliage motifs. Any risk of too geometric a character is avoided, however, by the skilful interweaving of the willows and flower-heads with the hexagons, like plants growing against a masonry wall.

Details

Object Type: printing block
Material: pearwood
Catalogue number: R602
Retailer: Morris & Co.
Manufacturer: Barrett's of Bethnal Green Road
Credit notes: Gift of John Lewis Partnership,1980

Details

Date: designed 1878
Dimensions: 30 x 18
Object Type: textile
Material: woven wool
Technique: woven
Catalogue number: F283d
Designer: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Manufacturer: Morris & Co.
Credit notes: Presented by Mr Roman Damata, 1969

William Morris designed Bird woven wool in 1878. The pattern features pairs of birds, both standing and in flight, surrounded by scrolling acanthus leaves and yellow sunflowers. For earlier designs, Morris had relied on Philip Webb to draw the birds, as seen in the Trellis wallpaper. However, on 25 March 1877, Morris wrote to his friend, the textile manufacturer Thomas Wardle (1831–1909), stating: ‘I am studying birds now to see if I can’t get some of them into my next design.’ Bird is the first in a series of textile designs by Morris to feature his own drawings of birds.

In April 1878, around the time this design was created, Morris moved into Kelmscott House in Hammersmith, where he subsequently adorned every wall of the first-floor drawing room with Bird woven wool curtains.

The original design is held in the collection of the William Morris Society, London (D31).

Details

Date: designed 1878
Dimensions: 202 x 186
Object Type: textile
Material: woven wool
Catalogue number: F424
Credit notes: Gift of Douglas Schoenherr, 2001

The original design is held in the collection of the William Morris Society, London (D31).

Two pieces joined, one full width, one half width.

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