Tulip and Willow
Furnishing Fabric
1873 (designed), 1883 (made)
1873 (designed), 1883 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Printed cotton furnishing textile intended for use as curtains, wall decoration and furniture upholstery.This was the second textile designed by Morris. The original watercolour design for this textile is in the collection of the City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham. It took some years to put this pattern into commercial production.
Originally Morris commissioned Thomas Clarkson of Bannister Hall, one of the leading manufacturers of printed textiles, to print this design as he had no means to do it himself. They used chemical, aniline dyestuffs, which were widely used in practice at the time. Morris was unhappy with the crude effects of the bright blue used.
In 1875 he spent time with Thomas Wardle at his print works in Leek, Staffordshire, experimenting with natural dyes. It is likely that this pattern was attempted then. A letter from Morris to Wardle at the time complains yet again about the blue dyes, claiming that 'they wash even worse than Clarkson's blues; in fact worse that any I have ever seen and it would be useless to sell them in the present state.' Morris then abandoned all attempts to produce the pattern until 1883, when it was successfully achieved by the indigo discharge method in his own factory at Merton Abbey, Wimbledon.
Originally Morris commissioned Thomas Clarkson of Bannister Hall, one of the leading manufacturers of printed textiles, to print this design as he had no means to do it himself. They used chemical, aniline dyestuffs, which were widely used in practice at the time. Morris was unhappy with the crude effects of the bright blue used.
In 1875 he spent time with Thomas Wardle at his print works in Leek, Staffordshire, experimenting with natural dyes. It is likely that this pattern was attempted then. A letter from Morris to Wardle at the time complains yet again about the blue dyes, claiming that 'they wash even worse than Clarkson's blues; in fact worse that any I have ever seen and it would be useless to sell them in the present state.' Morris then abandoned all attempts to produce the pattern until 1883, when it was successfully achieved by the indigo discharge method in his own factory at Merton Abbey, Wimbledon.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | Tulip and Willow (manufacturer's title) |
Materials and techniques | Block-printed and indigo discharge cotton |
Brief description | Furnishing fabric 'Tulip and Willow' of block-printed cotton, designed by William Morris in 1873, made by Morris & Co., London, after 1883 |
Physical description | Furnishing fabric of block-printed cotton and indigo discharged. |
Dimensions |
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Gallery label |
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Credit line | Given by London County Council |
Object history | Designed by William Morris (born in London, 1834, died there in 1896); printed from 1883 by Morris & Co., at the Merton Abbey Works, near Wimbledon, London |
Summary | Printed cotton furnishing textile intended for use as curtains, wall decoration and furniture upholstery.This was the second textile designed by Morris. The original watercolour design for this textile is in the collection of the City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham. It took some years to put this pattern into commercial production. Originally Morris commissioned Thomas Clarkson of Bannister Hall, one of the leading manufacturers of printed textiles, to print this design as he had no means to do it himself. They used chemical, aniline dyestuffs, which were widely used in practice at the time. Morris was unhappy with the crude effects of the bright blue used. In 1875 he spent time with Thomas Wardle at his print works in Leek, Staffordshire, experimenting with natural dyes. It is likely that this pattern was attempted then. A letter from Morris to Wardle at the time complains yet again about the blue dyes, claiming that 'they wash even worse than Clarkson's blues; in fact worse that any I have ever seen and it would be useless to sell them in the present state.' Morris then abandoned all attempts to produce the pattern until 1883, when it was successfully achieved by the indigo discharge method in his own factory at Merton Abbey, Wimbledon. |
Bibliographic references |
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Collection | |
Accession number | CIRC.91-1933 |
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Record created | March 27, 2003 |
Record URL |
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