Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C , Case MB2B, Shelf DR56, Box DW4

Persian Sprig

Print
1858 (manufactured)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Owen Jones (1809-1874) was a prolific designer of wallpapers. His designs drew heavily on his anthology of historic decorative motifs, published as The Grammar of Ornament (1856). However, unlike Pugin, Jones did not believe that one could simply reproduce past styles in a modern context. He believed that architecture and design should be of its time, but that it should look to the ornamental art of the past for inspiration. Though the forms he used were often naturalistic, he reduced them to flat forms in patterns based on his notion of ‘geometrical construction’. In his essay of 1852, ‘Colour in the Decorative Arts’ (published in George Shaw’s On the Manufacture of Glass), he wrote that ‘paper hangings should not call attention to themselves, but remain as a background for the paintings, engravings, and other art works’. Yet his wallpapers are characterised by strong colours in uncommon combinations, devised in accordance with his own colour theories.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitlePersian Sprig (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Colour woodblock print, on paper
Brief description
Specimen of 'Persian Sprig' wallpaper, a Persian pattern; Colour woodblock print, on paper; Designed by Owen Jones; Produced by John Trumble and Company; England; 1858.
Physical description
Specimen of 'Persian Sprig' wallpaper, a Persian pattern; Colour woodblock print, on paper.
Dimensions
  • Height: 45.6cm
  • Width: 52.6cm
The bottom right hand corner is missing.
Gallery label
In his Grammar of Ornament, published in 1856, Jones included a section on Persian patterns, praising the 'great simplicity and ingenuity displayed in the conventional renderun of natural flowers'. He illustrated some motifs very like these, taken from a Persian pattern book in this museum. This design is still being produced by Laura Ashley.
Credit line
Given by Miss Catherine Jones, daughter of the artist
Object history
Given by Miss Catherine Jones, daughter of the artist.
Summary
Owen Jones (1809-1874) was a prolific designer of wallpapers. His designs drew heavily on his anthology of historic decorative motifs, published as The Grammar of Ornament (1856). However, unlike Pugin, Jones did not believe that one could simply reproduce past styles in a modern context. He believed that architecture and design should be of its time, but that it should look to the ornamental art of the past for inspiration. Though the forms he used were often naturalistic, he reduced them to flat forms in patterns based on his notion of ‘geometrical construction’. In his essay of 1852, ‘Colour in the Decorative Arts’ (published in George Shaw’s On the Manufacture of Glass), he wrote that ‘paper hangings should not call attention to themselves, but remain as a background for the paintings, engravings, and other art works’. Yet his wallpapers are characterised by strong colours in uncommon combinations, devised in accordance with his own colour theories.
Bibliographic reference
Oman, Charles C. and Hamilton, Jean. Wallpapers: a history and illustrated catalogue of the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. London: Sotheby Publications, in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1982.
Collection
Accession number
8342:15

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Record createdDecember 7, 2005
Record URL
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