This preliminary design for children's tablecloth by Czech-born Jacqueline Groag (1903-1985) was commissioned by the department store, Liberty of London in about 1965.

Some years earlier in Vienna, Groag had studied under and was highly influenced by Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956), an Austrian architect and designer. He was a founder of the Vienna Secession, a group of artists who rejected the academic art establishment in Austria in 1897. This is a famous example of a European phenomenon of the late 19th and early 20th century, when progressive artists decided to 'secede' or withdraw from the status quo and form their own artistic movements. Groag's grounding in Secessionist style can be seen in the way she has reduced human and animal forms to abstract, geometric, yet still recognisable shapes in this design.

After a successful career on the European mainland, the designer and her architect/designer husband, Jacques Groag (1892-1962), moved to London in 1939 where they settled. In the post-war period, Jacqueline produced a prolific body of work to which this design belongs. Her impact on 20th century British design was honoured when she became a Fellow of the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry in 1964.