This top quality woven silk furnishing was designed by Owen Jones in 1872 and manufactured by the Spitalfields firm of Warner, Sillett & Ramm. Owen Jones sold a number of designs to the silk manufacturer Benjamin Warner and the alliance between the manufacture and designer proved very successful. The first weaving of this design (noted in the company's accounts) was on 9 July 1874. The quality and sumptuous colour combinations of the silk emulates 16th and 17th century Florentine silks. In the 19th century this epitomised the best of what was called 'Renaissance' work.

Owen Jones believed that good design could only come from a detailed study of ancient patterns and his published books on the Alhambra in Spain (1842) and the 'Grammar of Ornament' (1856) chronicles designs taken from the architecture and decoration of ancient civilisations and many different countries. This pattern has historical roots in both ancient Greek architecture and Egyptian design. The curving leaves are reminiscent of decoration on Greek columns with swaying palmettes in the Egyptian tradition.