This block-printed design entitled 'Lioness' was manufactured by Thomas Wardle and Co. in around 1885. The design of crowned vases of flowers, flanked by paired lionesses and birds, echoes those of Italian woven textiles of the 15th to 17th centuries. It displays the manufacturer's interest in Italian textiles from this period, and the wider enthusiasm in the Arts and Crafts movement for historical woven textiles. Although the Arts and Crafts movement is often associated with the influence of medieval English and French textiles, there is also an important element derived from woven Italian fabrics.

Thomas Wardle was a leading textile manufacturer and dyer working in Leek, Staffordshire. He took over his father's dyeworks in the early 1870s, and went on to become one of the leading British textile manufacturers of the late 19th century. Wardle was an early member of the Arts and Crafts Movement, and acquired patterns from leading designers such as Morris, Day, Crane, Voysey, and Butterfield. He produced fabrics for stores including Liberty & Co., Heal & Sons and Debenham & Freebody, and between 1883 and 1888 he also traded through his own shop on New Bond Street, London.