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Wallpaper border
Unknown - Enlarge image
Wallpaper border
- Place of origin:
England (printed)
- Date:
ca. 1830 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (maker)
Cowtan & Son (supplier) - Materials and Techniques:
Colour woodblock print, on paper
- Credit Line:
Presented in memory of Arthur Barnard Cowtan OBE, by his son, A. L. Cowtan
- Museum number:
E.66-1939
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C, case MB2B, shelf DW16
Object Type
In the 18th century wallpapers were often fixed to the wall with nails or tacks, rather than pasted up. Printed borders were used to conceal the heads of the tacks and to give a neat and finished appearance to the papered wall. The fashion for using borders continued even when methods of hanging wallpapers changed and borders were no longer strictly necessary. By the early 19th century borders were available in elaborate designs to use as a frieze decoration around the upper part of the room.
Design & Designing
This wallpaper border is designed to look like a plaster frieze or cornice, especially when viewed from a distance. The motifs of the swan, acanthus leaves and flower heads are all derived from classical architecture.
People
This wallpaper comes from the stock of Messrs Cowtan & Sons Ltd, an important interior decorating company based in Oxford Street, London, from the 1820s to the 1930s. They succeeded two other well-known wallpaper suppliers, J. Duppa and J.G. Crace. Cowtan supplied wallpapers to customers all over the country.
