‘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.
