Tulip and Net
1888–89 · Woven wool · Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
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About this work
- Artist
- William Morris (1834–1896)
- Year
- 1888–89
- Medium
- Woven wool
- Original size
- 219 × 92.5 cm
- Collection
- Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
- Movement
- Arts and Crafts
Tall, symmetrical plants of pale blue tulips, apricot and yellow carnation-like flowers and slender leaves stand within an ogival net of stems on a dark indigo ground. Tulip and Net is a hand-loom Jacquard-woven wool furnishing fabric of 1888–89, made at Merton Abbey. It is usually credited to William Morris, though the V&A catalogues the design as by John Henry Dearle and/or Morris; Dearle was responsible for the firm's new woven textiles from 1888. The V&A notes that Dearle's woven patterns favour strong symmetrical forms drawn from historical fabrics of Persia, Turkey and Italy, and the mirrored plants and pointed net here follow that model. This length, over two metres long, is in the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
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 blue tulips and apricot flowers on deep indigo give a calm, symmetrical wall for a bedroom, study or hallway. Pair it with Bird, another indigo weave, at 16×24 in black.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Arts and Crafts pattern
- Era
- 19th century (1888–89)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- decorative, classic
- Rooms
- bedroom, hallway or entryway, 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.
