Wool Cloak

Details

Date: designed 1878
Dimensions: 163 x 137.2
Object Type: textile
Material: woven wool
Technique: hand-loom jacquard woven
Catalogue number: F26cii
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Retailer: Morris & Co. Art-Workers Ltd., 17 George Street, Hanover Square, London
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1940

‘Peacock and Dragon’ was designed by William Morris in 1878. It was first hand-woven on jacquard looms at Morris & Co’s premises in Queen Square, London and later at the firm’s factory Merton Abbey, Surrey. It was available in two widths: 183 cm (72 in.) and also in 137 cm (54 in). It was available in two colourways, Morris & Co. pattern no: 200 (5 colourways) and 5623 (2 colourways). The size of pattern repeat: 109 x 90 cm. (43 x 35.5 in.).

This example is one width of a double width pair of curtains made by the Gallery for display in the 1960s, the four widths were separated around 1988 to form four lengths (see F26). The curtains were made from an original 30 yard length of 54 inch width five colourway fabric, acquired from Morris & Co. when it closed in 1940.

Details

Date: designed c.1898
Object Type: textile
Material: woven wool
Technique: hand-loom jacquard woven
Catalogue number: F460
Designer: Dearle, John Henry (1859 - 1932)
Manufacturer: Morris & Co.

This woven wool was designed by John Henry Dearle for Morris & Co. around 1898. The repeating pattern is formed of orange coloured squirrels amongst a grape vine heavy with fruit. Originally entitled Fox and Grape after the Aesop fable, it was later changed to Squirrel, presumably because the animals more closely resembled the form of a red squirrel. Although many of Morris & Co’s patterns feature birds, beside the rabbits in the popular ‘Brother Rabbit’ pattern and these squirrels, there are no other examples of animals in the Firm’s repeating textile patterns. This example was once one of a pair of curtains and features two widths of decorative fringing at the bottom. The wool was produced on a jaquard hand-loom at Morris & Co’s factory Merton Abbey and came in three colourways. Dearle’s original design drawing is in the Huntington Art Collection, USA.

Details

Date: designed 1878
Dimensions: 188 x 124.5
Object Type: textile
Material: woven wool
Technique: hand-loom jacquard woven
Catalogue number: F269
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1964

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: c.1868
Dimensions: 85.1 x 233.7
Object Type: textile
Material: woven wool
Technique: block-printed
Catalogue number: F399
Retailer: Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.
Manufacturer: Thomas Clarkson of Bannister Hall
Credit notes: Transfer from Victoria and Albert Museum, 1980

This was the first textile design to be sold by Morris’s firm, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co., around 1868. Morris copied the pattern from a traditional Bannister Hall print of the 1830’s. The blocks were printed with aniline dyes by Clarksons of Bannister Hall for Morris, and sold throughout the life of Morris & Co. In the twentieth century the design saw a revival in the increased popularity of floral chintz patterns and there is evidence that the design was available until 1940. This is an early example printed onto wool and cotton and made into a curtain, a companion piece is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (T.37-1979).

Details

Date: designed c.1875, manufactured c.1920s
Dimensions: 85.1 x 22.6
Object Type: textile
Material: woven wool
Technique: machine-woven
Catalogue number: N13b
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Retailer: Morris & Co. Art-Workers Ltd., 17 George Street, Hanover Square, London
Manufacturer: Wilton Royal Carpet Factory Ltd
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1964

‘Lily’ was William Morris’s first design for a wool pile carpet. It was machine woven on a jaquard loom for Morris & Co. by Yates & Co. in Wilton, and from 1905 its successor, Wilton Royal Carpet Company. The repeating pattern is formed of stylized lily plants intertwined with scrolling flowers on a dark blue background. Although the design wasn’t registered with the Patent Office it was in production in 1877, along with a number of other designs, when Morris advised the Countess of Tullamore in Ireland on the decoration of her house. Wilton carpets were the most popular type of machine woven carpets made by Morris & Co., and of the 24 different designs available ‘Lily’ was a best seller.

This fragment, along with four others were removed from a larger piece (see N13) to make it a regular size when it was first acquired by the Gallery in 1964.

Details

Date: designed 1878
Dimensions: 87 x137.2
Object Type: textile
Material: woven wool
Technique: hand-loom jacquard woven
Catalogue number: F26ciii
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1940

Details

Date: designed 1878
Dimensions: 253 x137.2
Object Type: textile
Material: woven wool
Technique: hand-loom jacquard woven
Catalogue number: F26ci
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1940

Details

Date: designed 1878
Object Type: textile
Material: woven wool
Technique: hand-loom jacquard woven
Catalogue number: F26civ
Designer: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Credit notes: WMG purchase, 1940

Material: woven wool

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