This woven furnishing textile was made for use as heavyweight curtains or a wall covering. William Morris's increasing interest in historical woven textiles can be detected in his woven designs of the late 1870s and 1880s. This textile was clearly influenced by a visit to Vincent Robinson's shop in London in the same year it was designed. He described the room he saw there as 'from Damascus ... all vermilion and gold and ultramarine very beautiful and is just like going into the Arabian Nights'. However, the massive scale of the repeat (109 by 90 centimetres) and dense texture is far closer to northern European sources. By producing it as a thick woollen structure, Morris intended to recreate the effect of medieval tapestries.

Used in a number of schemes, including Morris's own London home, Kelmscott House in Hammersmith, London, this example is from a set of four curtains used in the hall at Clouds, the Hon. Percy Wyndham's country home near Salisbury, Wiltshire. This pattern proved to be one of Morris & Co.'s most successful furnishings. When purchased from their shop at 17 George Street, Hanover Square, London, in 1933, the firm described the design as 'a favourite with its author, [it] requires a large room to set it off its proportions'.