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, peaches, oranges and lemons surrounded by the fruit tree 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 example is stamped on the right edge ‘Morris & Co’.
