Willow Bough Minor, Sanderson samples

Details

Date: Designed 1876, printed 1877-1917
Dimensions: 94 x 98
Object Type: textile
Material: cotton
Technique: block-printed
Catalogue number: F401
Designer: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Manufacturer: Wardle and Co. (1872 - 1908)
Retailer: Morris & Co. Decorators Ltd, 449 Oxford Street, London
Credit notes: Presented by Michael Whiteway, 1998

Snakeshead was designed by William Morris in 1876. It was printed by Thomas Wardle at his factory in Leek, Wardle continued to print this design for Morris & Co., after Morris opened his own textile printing factory at Merton Abbey. The pink and blue on pink ground is colourway no. 1573. The selvedge is printed with Morris 7 Co’s Oxford Street address.

Details

Date: c.1857
Dimensions: 134.6
Object Type: textile
Material: cotton
Technique: woven
Catalogue number: H12
Attributed designer: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Owner: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Owner: Morris (née Burden) | Jane | 1839 | 1914
Credit notes: Presented by Central School of Arts and Crafts (London County Council), 1954.

This woven white cotton sideless gown is part of a group of costume items that also includes a dress and cloak, both also in the collection. They were all reputed to have been designed by William Morris for use as costume props to be worn by models, notably his wife Jane, at the time of the decoration of the Oxford Union murals in 1857. The gown has been linked to a 1858 study by Morris for ‘La Belle Iseult’, his only easel painting which is now in the Tate collection.

Details

Date: reg 15 April 1875, printed 1917-1940
Dimensions: 184.8 x 97.2
Object Type: textile
Material: cotton
Technique: block-printed
Catalogue number: F211
Designer: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Manufacturer: Morris & Co.
Credit notes: Mary Annie Sloane bequest, 1962

Tulip was designed by William Morris in 1875 and manufactured by Wardle & Co. in Leek, Staffordshire. The design features horizontal rows of variagated tulips and acanthus leaves. The Gallery holds the original design and wood blocks used to print the cotton. Morris advised would-be designers to create forms of flowers and leaves ‘that are obvioulsy fit for printing with a block; to mask the construction of our pattern enough from counting the repeats‘ (Some Hints on Pattern Designing, 1880)

Details

Date: designed 1876
Dimensions: 78.7 x 31.7
Object Type: textile
Material: cotton
Technique: block-printed
Catalogue number: BlF256
Designer: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Retailer: Morris & Co.
Manufacturer: Wardle and Co. (1872 - 1908)

William Morris designed ‘African Marigold’ in 1876, the design was registered 7th October 1876 but probably not produced until a few years later. The pattern features small orange marigolds, with larger stylised lilies and curling ribbons of acanthus leaves. The original design is in the gallery’s collection (see BlA464) as well as 23 original printing blocks. Morris worked with the master-dyer Thomas Wardle in Leek, Staffordshire when first manufacturing this design on silk in 1880-81. However a letter from Morris to Wardle on 8 February 1881 shows that Morris was not pleased with the Wardle’s attempts:

‘I am sorry to say that the last goods African marigold and red marigold sent are worse instead of better: they are infact unsaleable; I should consider myself disgraced by offering them for sale: I laboured hard on making good designs for these and on getting the colour good; they are now so printed & coloured that they are no better han caricatures of my careful work.’

Although Wardle and Morris’s relationship started out well, by the early 1880s Morris’s exacting standards took on a strain on the working relationship. Later in 1881, Morris took over the dyeing and block-printing process of his fabrics at his own factory, Merton Abbey.

Details

Date: designed 1887
Dimensions: 181 x 147.3
Object Type: textile
Material: cotton
Technique: block-printed
Catalogue number: F281
Designer: Dearle, John Henry (1859 - 1932)
Manufacturer: Morris & Co.
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs Margaret I. Miller, 1979

Curtain made up from 3 widths of ‘Cherwell’ fabric in a turqouise colourway, with Morris & Co. lining fabric. ‘Cherwell’ was designed by John Henry Dearle in 1897 as a velveteen and a cotton, from 1891 it was also used as a design for a wallpaper. The curtains have a label from Morris & Co.’s Oxford Street shop, dating the curtain to between 1887-1917, when the firm moved to George Street.

Details

Date: designed 1884
Dimensions: 94 x 94
Object Type: textile
Material: cotton
Technique: block-printed
Catalogue number: F402
Designer: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Manufacturer: Morris & Co.
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1998

Cray was designed by William Morris in 1884, one of a series of patterns created at this time named after tributaries of the River Thames and other rivers. The cray is a chalk stream, and a tributary of the River Darent, in south-East London. The pattern consists of large stem and peony-like flowers with a secondary network of flowers and leaves against a background of curling small leaves, stems and flowerheads. The size of the repat and complexity of the pattern meant that 34 different printing blocks were required to print one pattern repeat, making it Morris’s most expensive blockprinted fabric.

This version is an in unusual colourway with yellow and green on dark green ground. Colourway no. 2109.

Details

Date: designed 1884
Dimensions: 109.8 x 89.5
Object Type: textile
Material: cotton
Technique: indigo discharge and block-printed
Catalogue number: F208
Designer: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Manufacturer: Morris & Co.
Credit notes: Miss Mary Ann Sloane bequest, 1962

Details

Date: designed 1884
Dimensions: 365.8 x 96.5
Object Type: textile
Material: cotton
Technique: block-printed
Catalogue number: F392
Designer: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Manufacturer: Morris & Co.
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1998

Details

Date: printed 1917-1940
Dimensions: 761 x 97
Object Type: textile
Material: cotton
Technique: block-printed
Catalogue number: F398b
Designer: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs Lee, 1998

William Morris design Willow Bough as a wallpaper in 1887. It was adapated for fabric around 1895. This example is printed with the Morris & Company mark, which they used after moving to retail premises in George Street, Hanover Square, London in 1917.

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

Dimensions: 66.0 x 37.0
Object Type: textile
Material: cotton
Catalogue number: H10
Manufacturer: Unknown
Owner: Morris, William (1834 - 1896)
Credit notes: Presented by Miss Dorothy Walker, 1953

This satchel belonged to William Morris; he used it to carry books or manuscripts he was reading when commuting to his business in central London . His daughter May Morris, later wrote about how she remembered her father carrying this bag, describing how ‘from the worn brown satchel used for parcel-carrying [he would] produce a modest-looking volume, sometimes protected by a velvet-lined case, sometimes bare, but inside! a fairy-story, a picture-gallery in little of mediaeval life.‘

Details

Date: After 1883
Dimensions: 127 x 185.4
Object Type: textile
Material: cotton
Technique: block-printed
Catalogue number: H27
Owner: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Attributed artist: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs Barbara Campbell Thompson, 1967

Hand-stitched long smock with long sleeves, gathered at neckline, sections let into each side which are gathered under the arm, made from Morris & Co. “Borage” chintz, printed in yellow. Probably worn by May Morris. The smock was in the posession of Dr and Mrs Campbell Thompson. Dr Reginald Campbell Thompson was formerly Professor of Assyriology at Oxford University and was May Morris’s executor.

Details

Date: design registered 2 September 1883
Dimensions: 77.5 x 91.4 (per curtain)
Object Type: textile
Material: cotton
Technique: indigo discharge and block-printed
Catalogue number: F325b
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Manufacturer: Morris & Co.
Credit notes: Purchased with a grant in aid from the V&A, 1978

Details

Date: design registered 2 September 1883
Dimensions: 77.5 x 91.4 (per curtain)
Object Type: textile
Material: cotton
Technique: indigo discharge and block-printed
Catalogue number: F325a
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Manufacturer: Morris & Co.
Credit notes: Purchased with a grant in aid from the V&A, 1978

This design was named after a tributary of the River Thames. The design was based on a piece of seventeenth century Italian cut velvet and purchased in 1883 for the historic textiles collection of the South Kensington Museum, for whom Morris acted as an adviser for collection purchases. This is one of a pair of curtains originally from Miss Frances J. Lefroy, whose parents’ house was decorated by Morris & Co. in the 1890s;

Details

Date: designed 1883
Dimensions: 25.7 x 72.4
Object Type: textile
Material: cotton
Technique: block-printed
Catalogue number: F304
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Manufacturer: Morris & Co.
Credit notes: Presented by Whitworth Art Gallery, 1969

This fragment of ‘Borage’, designed by William Morris, was given to the Whitworth Gallery, Manchester by the firm Wardle and Co. and later transferred to the William Morris Gallery. Thomas Wardle was a master dyer who worked with Morris to perfect the dyes used for his textiles, his firm also manufactured Morris & Co. textiles before Morris moved his production in-house to Merton Abbey in 1881. This pattern was designed in 1883 and thefore post-dates Wardle & Co’s period of production for Morris & Co.

Material: cotton

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