Peacock and Dragon (Olive)
1878 · Woven wool, weft-faced compound twill · The Cleveland Museum of Art
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About this work
- Artist
- William Morris (1834–1896)
- Year
- 1878
- Medium
- Woven wool, weft-faced compound twill
- Original size
- 206.6 × 174.7 cm
- Collection
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Movement
- Arts and Crafts
Pairs of peacocks and winged dragons face each other among palmettes and flowering branches, woven in rose, salmon and olive green with touches of blue and red. William Morris designed Peacock and Dragon in 1878 as a heavy woollen hanging that could warm a room as he imagined medieval wall hangings had. That year he visited the London shop of the dealer Vincent Robinson and saw a room from Damascus, 'all vermilion and gold and ultramarine', which partly inspired the motifs. It became one of the most popular designs among his customers and was offered in five colourways; Morris used it in his own London home, Kelmscott House. This olive colourway, woven as a weft-faced compound twill, is in the Cleveland Museum of Art.
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
Rose and olive peacocks and dragons give warmth and scale to a large living room, dining room or stair wall. Pair it with Peacock and Dragon (Blue) at 24×36 in natural wood.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Arts and Crafts pattern
- Era
- 19th century (1878)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- decorative, classic
- Rooms
- living room, dining room
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×36. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
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.
