Vines and Grapes in William Morris Designs

The 'Vine' wallpaper: what the V&A record shows

The Victoria and Albert Museum holds a specimen of the 'Vine' wallpaper pattern, a foliate design of two types of leaves and grapes, under museum number O16974. The V&A attributes the design to William Morris. It is the clearest documented example of the vines and grapes motif in his work.

The record describes the specimen as hand printed in distemper colours by wood block, on paper. According to the V&A, the wallpaper was printed by the manufacturer Jeffrey & Co. for Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., the firm Morris founded in 1861 and which became Morris & Co. in 1875.

The specimen also has a documented context. The museum further notes that after publication as an ordinary distemper print, the 'Vine' design was brought out on a gold crape-embossed ground, a material that had earlier appeared in Jeffrey & Co.'s own range.

Vine belongs to the wider family of plant patterns surveyed in flowers in Morris designs, where each motif is traced through the documented holdings of museum collections.

When was 'Vine' issued? A date the sources give differently

The sources checked give two positions on the wallpaper's date. According to the Victoria and Albert Museum, one record gives a production date of 1873 for the 'Vine' wallpaper. The V&A also states that it was first issued in 1874, with production dates of 1873 and 1874. Both positions come from the Victoria and Albert Museum's records, and both agree that production spans 1873 and 1874.

The practical reading is that the design was produced from 1873 and first issued in 1874, though the record does not state this as a single reconciled fact. For most purposes, dating 'Vine' to 1873 to 1874 is what the evidence supports.

From 'Vine' to 'Acanthus and Vine': Morris's first tapestry

The second documented design showing the motif is the 'Acanthus and Vine' tapestry. The V&A describes it as Morris's first attempt at tapestry weaving. According to the museum's record, Morris first set up a tapestry loom in 1877 and began 'Acanthus and Vine' on 10 May, 1877, at his home, Kelmscott House.

The working record is unusually specific. The V&A states that the tapestry was finished on 17 September after more than 500 hours of work. The record does not state the year of that September date, so the completion year cannot be given here.

Two related objects are documented. The V&A holds a cartoon for the tapestry, pencil and watercolour on paper, museum number O89229, which the museum attributes to the Morris & Co. studio after a design by William Morris, dated 1879. Morris drew the original design for the tapestry, also in the collection (E.45-1940), but the museum notes that the cartoon may have been drawn in the Morris & Co. studio.

The acanthus, the tapestry's other plant, has its own documented history and is covered in a closer look at Acanthus Leaf.

How the vine is drawn: leaves, grapes and pattern structure

What the sources record about the drawing is narrow but precise. The V&A describes the 'Vine' wallpaper as a foliate design of two types of leaves and grapes. No source in the record identifies the leaves or the grapes botanically, so any species name would be an observation, not a documented identification.

The pattern structure is documented for the tapestry. The V&A notes that both the design and the cartoon for 'Acanthus and Vine' show only one half of the pattern worked out in detail, the standard method for a symmetrical repeating pattern.

The wallpaper's own structure left a trace elsewhere. The V&A records that Willow, issued in the same year as 'Vine', is a simple pattern derived from the backprint of Vine. The scrolling vine thus generated a second, much simpler design without any grapes at all.

Design-by-design: the documented examples

The table lists every design in the sources checked that shows the vine and grape motif. The sources list no other Morris designs with vines and grapes, so the catalogue stops at two entries.

What we cannot yet say: interpretation and open questions

Honesty about the limits of the record matters on a page like this. No named author's interpretation of the vine and grape motif appears in the sources checked, so no symbolic meaning can be stated here. No verifiable text by Morris on vines and grapes was found either: the record gives no title, date or quotation for such a publication.

Other questions stay open. The completion year of the 'Acanthus and Vine' tapestry is not stated in the record, only the day and month. And beyond the two designs catalogued above, the sources checked name no other Morris work with the motif. What the record does establish is the firm context: according to the Victoria and Albert Museum, Morris founded Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. in 1861, and the firm became Morris & Co. in 1875, the years that frame both documented examples.

For related plant motifs, Acanthus Leaf in detail pairs naturally with this page, since the two plants share the tapestry's scrolling structure.