Tulip
1875 · Roller-printed cotton · The Cleveland Museum of Art
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About this work
- Artist
- William Morris (1834–1896)
- Year
- 1875
- Medium
- Roller-printed cotton
- Original size
- 76.1 × 95.3 cm
- Collection
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Movement
- Arts and Crafts
Frilled white tulips nod among dense, serrated leaves printed in pale green on a cream ground, the flowers turning in rows across the cloth. William Morris designed Tulip in 1875, the year he spent time at Thomas Wardle's print works in Leek, Staffordshire, experimenting with natural dyes, and the pattern was first produced by Wardle. The Cleveland Museum of Art notes that Morris insisted on fair working conditions at a time when many Victorian manufacturers imposed long hours and dangerous work for low wages. This example is roller-printed, a mechanised method, in a single green; the V&A holds block-printed examples in shades of red and of green. This piece shows some old staining at one edge. It 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
Pale green tulips and leaves on cream are quiet and fresh for a bedroom, bathroom or light kitchen wall. Pair it with Willow (Green on Cream) at 24×36 in natural wood.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Arts and Crafts pattern
- Era
- 19th century (1875)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- decorative, classic
- Rooms
- bedroom, kitchen, bathroom
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.
