Apple
1877 · Block-printed wallpaper on paper · Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
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About this work
- Artist
- William Morris (1834–1896)
- Year
- 1877
- Medium
- Block-printed wallpaper on paper
- Original size
- 54 × 57 cm
- Collection
- Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
- Movement
- Arts and Crafts
Large leaves outlined in dark red and round apples built from tiny orange dots sit over a background of fine pink leaves on a pale cream ground, two scales of foliage layered one over the other. William Morris designed Apple in 1877. The V&A describes it as apples with two varieties and sizes of foliage, and the Cooper Hewitt notes the dotted apples. Setting a bold motif over a quiet small-leaf ground was a device Morris used often; the V&A notes small willow-leaf grounds in designs such as Lily and Powdered. This sheet was printed by Jeffrey & Co. and still carries the firm's name in pink in its right-hand selvedge. It entered the Cooper Hewitt in 1941.
This print fills the sheet edge to edge with the pattern, cropped from a high-resolution museum scan of the original, so it reads like a panel of the wallpaper or fabric. The exhibition poster shows the whole sample. The design is in the public domain.
Where it works
Coral apples and pink leaves on cream bring warmth to a kitchen, dining nook or a blush-toned bedroom. Pair it with Pink and Rose, another warm-ground paper, at 16×24 in natural wood.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Arts and Crafts pattern
- Era
- 19th century (1877)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- decorative, classic
- Rooms
- bedroom, kitchen
Size. We'd hang this one at 16×24. Prints at 12×18, 16×24 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway.
Framing. Printed edge to edge: a slim black or natural wood frame right to the pattern, or let the canvas wrap do the framing. Also available gallery-wrapped on canvas, ready to hang with no frame.
Pairing. Hangs alone or as a matched pair; three or more prints are 10% off.
