Marigold
1875 · Block-printed wallpaper, distemper colours on paper · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
📦 Free shipping on every order, arriving in 4–9 business days with production included. Express ($14.90) at checkout arrives in 4–6 business days.
About this work
- Artist
- William Morris (1834–1896)
- Year
- 1875
- 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
Feathery leaves and open marigold flowers fill the sheet in a single blue printed against white, so the flowers, veins and stems read as pale lines on a dense blue field with almost no plain ground left. William Morris designed Marigold in 1875 as a pattern for both wallpaper and printed fabric; the V&A suggests it was probably the first of his textiles printed by Thomas Wardle at Leek in Staffordshire, the dyer with whom he was then experimenting with natural colours. The design belongs to the mid-1870s, when Morris had mastered block printing and was layering flowers over finely worked backgrounds. This sheet, block-printed in distemper by Jeffrey & Co., was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1923.
This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole sample beneath original typography set in-house. The design is in the public domain.
Where it works
A single blue on white, dense with marigolds and feathery leaves, suits a blue-and-white kitchen, bathroom or guest room. It pairs naturally with African Marigold, its printed-cotton cousin, at 16×24 in black.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Exhibition poster of an Arts and Crafts pattern
- Era
- 19th century (1875)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- butter yellow, cream & beige
- Mood
- decorative, classic
- Rooms
- kitchen, bathroom, dorm room, hallway or entryway
Size. We'd hang this one at 16×24. 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. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.
Pairing. Hangs alone or as a matched pair; three or more prints are 10% off.
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole design, or a crop?
Is Marigold in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Marigold designed?
What size should I choose?
About this design
The Madten promise
The full-bleed print
The pattern printed edge to edge, filling the whole sheet like a panel of the original wallpaper or fabric.





























