This block-printed tusser silk was commissioned by the London store Liberty & Co. in the late 1870s. It was exhibited in the British India Pavilion of the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878. The dense repeating pattern of stylised gold flowers against the earthy red background shows the inspiration of traditional Indian design (also captured in the name: 'Allahabad Marigold'). The design was one of six Indian-inspired patterns shown together at the exhibition. The silks were woven in India, and overprinted by Thomas Wardle and Co. at their dyeworks in England.

Thomas Wardle was a leading 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 recognised as an expert on the Indian silk industry. He first visited Bengal in 1885, and lectured widely on the importance of the tusser (wild) silk of India. The textured, brown fibres of tusser silk were notoriously resistant to dye, which Wardle successfully overcame in the early 1870s by first bleaching the silk. He was a founding member of the Silk Society, and later knighted for his contribution to the industry.