Wallpaper
ca. 1875-1878 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Object Type
In Britain paper printed or painted with patterns has been used for decorating walls since the 16th century. By the late 1860s it had become fashionable to divide the walls into three sections, and to use different but complementary wallpaper patterns for each section. This panel was made for display purposes and has all three patterns printed as one piece.
Ownership & Use
Wallpaper decorations of this kind were first described by Charles Eastlake in his guide to home decorating Hints on Household Taste, which was first published in 1868. He approved of them because he thought that having only one pattern on the wall could be monotonous. By the 1880s this style of decorating was commonplace. In their advertisements Jeffrey & Co. offered a great variety of designs for dado, filling and frieze suitable for private residences.
Design & Designing
The dado was the bottom section of the wall, below the chair rail; the filling was the deepest section, between the chair rail and the picture rail; above this was the narrowest band, the frieze. Paintings were hung from the picture rail, with the filling as their background, so this was generally the simplest and most restrained pattern of the three. In 1886 a writer in the Journal of Decorative Art set out the basic principles for designing such papers. He said, 'The frieze should be light and lively; richer colours should be employed than in the filling, and it should be as striking to the eye as the dado'.
In Britain paper printed or painted with patterns has been used for decorating walls since the 16th century. By the late 1860s it had become fashionable to divide the walls into three sections, and to use different but complementary wallpaper patterns for each section. This panel was made for display purposes and has all three patterns printed as one piece.
Ownership & Use
Wallpaper decorations of this kind were first described by Charles Eastlake in his guide to home decorating Hints on Household Taste, which was first published in 1868. He approved of them because he thought that having only one pattern on the wall could be monotonous. By the 1880s this style of decorating was commonplace. In their advertisements Jeffrey & Co. offered a great variety of designs for dado, filling and frieze suitable for private residences.
Design & Designing
The dado was the bottom section of the wall, below the chair rail; the filling was the deepest section, between the chair rail and the picture rail; above this was the narrowest band, the frieze. Paintings were hung from the picture rail, with the filling as their background, so this was generally the simplest and most restrained pattern of the three. In 1886 a writer in the Journal of Decorative Art set out the basic principles for designing such papers. He said, 'The frieze should be light and lively; richer colours should be employed than in the filling, and it should be as striking to the eye as the dado'.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Colour block print on paper |
| Brief description | Decorators specimen of wallpaper (dado, filling and frieze); floral and foliate designs and a geometric pattern in yellow and gold, with a border featuring pomegranate fruit and branches; Colour print from wood blocks, on paper; (Partly?) designed by Bruce James Talbert; Produced by Jeffrey & Co.; England; ca. 1875-1878. |
| Physical description | Decorators specimen of wallpaper (dado, filling and frieze); floral and foliate designs and a geometric pattern in yellow and gold, with a border featuring pomegranate fruit and branches; The general flavour of this ensemble of papers is Anglo-Japanese, although very few individual motifs can be directly linked to the Far East; Colour print from wood blocks, on paper. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | A 448 / Frieze . . . 18d. per yd. / Paper . . . 12d. " / Dado Border . 9d. " / Dado . . . 12d. " (Lettered on small piece of paper attached to the margin above the design.) |
| Gallery label | British Galleries:
By 1880 it was very fashionable to decorate walls in three horizontal sections (frieze, filling and dado). Although this specimen panel was printed as one piece, usually the three parts would be produced as separate papers. They were combined according to the choice of the customer or decorator.(27/03/2003) |
| Summary | Object Type In Britain paper printed or painted with patterns has been used for decorating walls since the 16th century. By the late 1860s it had become fashionable to divide the walls into three sections, and to use different but complementary wallpaper patterns for each section. This panel was made for display purposes and has all three patterns printed as one piece. Ownership & Use Wallpaper decorations of this kind were first described by Charles Eastlake in his guide to home decorating Hints on Household Taste, which was first published in 1868. He approved of them because he thought that having only one pattern on the wall could be monotonous. By the 1880s this style of decorating was commonplace. In their advertisements Jeffrey & Co. offered a great variety of designs for dado, filling and frieze suitable for private residences. Design & Designing The dado was the bottom section of the wall, below the chair rail; the filling was the deepest section, between the chair rail and the picture rail; above this was the narrowest band, the frieze. Paintings were hung from the picture rail, with the filling as their background, so this was generally the simplest and most restrained pattern of the three. In 1886 a writer in the Journal of Decorative Art set out the basic principles for designing such papers. He said, 'The frieze should be light and lively; richer colours should be employed than in the filling, and it should be as striking to the eye as the dado'. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.660-1953 |
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| Record created | December 15, 1999 |
| Record URL |
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