‘Willow Bough’ is one of William Morris’s most enduring wallpaper designs, in continuous production since 1887. The pattern consists of willow branches that form a diagonal branch pattern over the plain background. As he eloquently expressed in his lecture ‘Hints on Pattern Designing’, a successful design should combine a degree of abstraction with a gentle reminder of the outdoors rather than a few ‘sham-real boughs and flowers, casting sham-real shadows on your walls, with little hint of anything beyond the Covent Garden in them?’. In 1874, Morris had designed a similar wallpaper called ‘Willow’, a more simple stylised representation of willow branches, ‘Willow Bough’ is a more naturalistic version of this earlier pattern with curling leaves in tones of green.
This example was printed by Arthur Sanderson & Sons who purchased Morris & Co’s designs and printing blocks when the firm closed in 1940.
