Trellis
1864 · Block-printed wallpaper, distemper colours on paper · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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About this work
- Artist
- William Morris (1834–1896)
- Year
- 1864
- Medium
- Block-printed wallpaper, distemper colours on paper
- Original size
- 68.6 × 54.6 cm (sheet)
- Collection
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Movement
- Arts and Crafts
A thorny rose briar climbs a grid of pale wooden trellis, its coral-red flowers set among grey-green leaves, with blue birds perched in the branches and small insects drifting across a cream ground. Trellis was the first wallpaper William Morris designed, drawn in 1862 soon after he moved into the Red House in Bexleyheath, whose medieval-style garden had roses trained over trellises around the flowerbeds. The birds were drawn by Philip Webb, the architect of the house. Morris first tried to print it himself in oil colours from zinc plates; when that failed, pearwood blocks were cut and the paper was printed in distemper colours by Jeffrey & Co. of Islington. It was issued in 1864, the third of his papers to reach the market. This sheet was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art 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
Coral roses, blue birds and a grey-green trellis on cream suit a breakfast room, garden-facing kitchen or a bright hallway. It pairs with Daisy (Cream) as an early-Morris pair at 16×24 in natural wood.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Arts and Crafts pattern
- Era
- 19th century (1864)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- decorative, classic
- Rooms
- kitchen, hallway or entryway
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.
