This woven silk fabric with a floral repeat called 'Small Syringa' (lilac) was designed in 1874 by Edward William Godwin for Warner and Ramm. This is a later version of the original 'Syringa' design and is approximately half the size of the original. This sample shows a full width of the loom and may be a trial weaving kept by Warners for colour reference. It is probably a commercially popular variation which adapts the size and colouring of the original pattern to late-19th century fashions.

Godwin, an architect and interior designer, was interested in Far-Eastern art and was the first to use Japanese motifs in furnishings. He produced textile designs for several firms and said of those he created for Warner & Ramm : 'Such effects as I wanted I endeavoured to gain by the mere grouping of solid and void and by more or less unbroken outline.' The characteristic Japanese simplicity of line and colour is also seen in the work of his contemporaries, Christopher Dresser and B.J. Talbert.

The silk weaving firm of Warner & Sons was founded in 1870 by Benjamin Warner, who trained at the Spitalfields School of Design in London. It has operated under several different names, and was called Warner & Ramm between 1875 and 1882.