Bird
1878 · Woven wool double cloth · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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About this work
- Artist
- William Morris (1834–1896)
- Year
- 1878
- Medium
- Woven wool double cloth
- Original size
- 224.2 × 126.7 cm
- Collection
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Movement
- Arts and Crafts
Pairs of pale birds with red-brown heads perch face to face, while others fly with spread wings, among dense blue leaves and small flowers on a deep indigo ground. William Morris designed Bird in 1878 for the drawing room of Kelmscott House, his home in Hammersmith, where it was used throughout the room. Morris called it a woollen tapestry, but the Metropolitan Museum notes that it is technically a double cloth, two interlocking layers woven together. It was first produced at his workshop in Queen Square, London, and later woven at Merton Abbey. This length, more than two metres long, was acquired by the Met in 1923.
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
Pale birds among blue leaves on indigo create a quiet, deep-blue wall for a bedroom, study or reading room. Pair it with Strawberry Thief for a pair of bird patterns at 16×24 in black.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Arts and Crafts pattern
- Era
- 19th century (1878)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- decorative, classic
- Rooms
- bedroom, study or library
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.
