Corncockle: The Printed Cotton by William Morris

What the Corncockle fabric shows

Beyond that description, the records consulted do not identify the individual plants shown in the pattern. The design's title points to the corncockle, a wild flower, but no source in the records consulted lists the motifs plant by plant, so any fuller botanical reading would go past the evidence.

Design date and attribution

The museum records agree on a design date of 1883. The V&A gives a primary date of 1883 for its example O270952, with production dates of 1883 and 1883 to 1919. The Metropolitan Museum of Art records its Corncockle as design registered 1883, with William Morris named in the role of Designer.

Attribution is consistent across the holdings. The V&A describes O270952 and O270950 as block printed cotton designed by William Morris for Morris & Co., and gives O270953 a primary maker of William Morris with a primary date of 1883. The Art Institute of Chicago credits its example (reference number 1972.391) to William Morris (English, 1834 to 1896), produced by Morris & Co., London (English, 1875 to 1940), with production at Merton Abbey, London (English, 1881 to 1940).

These are the institutions' own attributions. No named author's study of the attribution of Corncockle appears in the records consulted, so the museum catalogues are the authority relied on here.

Cotton or linen: a source conflict

The records consulted disagree about the medium. The V&A describes its Corncockle furnishing fabrics as block printed cotton. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, by contrast, lists the medium of its Corncockle as linen. Both statements are reported here exactly as their institutions give them, and no source in the records consulted resolves the difference.

Documented museum holdings

Three examples of Corncockle are held by the V&A. Museum number O270952 is described as block printed cotton, British, designed by William Morris for Morris & Co., 1883, printed with flowers and leaves in white and two shades of brown, with a Morris & Co. label attached. Museum number O270953 is a furnishing fabric with William Morris as primary maker and a primary date of 1883, stamped 'Regd Morris & Company 449 Oxford Street London W'. Museum number O270950 is likewise described as block printed cotton designed by William Morris for Morris & Co., 1883.

Outside the V&A, the Metropolitan Museum of Art holds a Corncockle with William Morris in the role of Designer and the date design registered 1883; its record lists the medium as linen.

Morris, Merton Abbey and textile production

From the early 1880s onwards, Morris's energies were focused on the production of textiles at Merton Abbey Mills, according to the V&A. This places the design date of Corncockle, 1883, within the period when the firm's textile work was concentrated at the Merton Abbey site.

The V&A also records that tapestry weaving was established at Merton Abbey when company production was consolidated at the site in 1881, and that Morris appointed John Henry Dearle to manage production. The workshop used looms to instruct apprentice weavers, and in 1893 Morris donated a miniature tapestry loom from the workshop to the South Kensington Museum, now the V&A.

These facts concern the Merton Abbey workshop in general. The records consulted do not state who printed Corncockle or where it was printed, so they should not be read as a production history of this particular design.

Morris's design principles

Morris set out his views on surface pattern in his essay The Lesser Arts (1877). According to the V&A, he warned there against 'sham-real boughs and flowers', and advised wallpaper designers 'to avoid falling into the trap of trying to make your paper look as if it were painted by hand'. The V&A presents these quotations in its account of Morris's design principles.

No documented statement by Morris about Corncockle specifically appears in the records consulted.

Corncockle and Morris's other printed textiles

Corncockle belongs to Morris & Co.'s printed furnishing textiles, the group often called the chintzes. An earlier example of the firm's printed fabric work is Jasmine Trellis, which the V&A records as designed by William Morris, made by Thomas Wardle and manufactured by Bannister Hall, dated 1868 to 1870, England. That record shows the range of printers and makers involved in Morris's printed textiles before the Merton Abbey period.

For other designs in the same group, see our guide to the Morris chintz list, the story of Snakeshead, our guide to Brother Rabbit and the story of Strawberry Thief.

May Morris and the V&A collection

Two further facts from the V&A help explain how Morris's designs reached the museum. In 1885 Morris stepped away from direct involvement with embroidery, putting May, aged just 23, in charge. On her death in 1938, May Morris bequeathed to the V&A a sizeable collection of her father's work, including 30 designs for wallpaper, textiles and embroidery.

The records consulted do not connect May Morris's bequest to the V&A's Corncockle holdings specifically, so no such link is drawn here.

Production span and reissues

The V&A production dates of 1883 and 1883 to 1919 indicate the design remained in production for decades after its introduction.

Beyond these records, no explicit reissue history for Corncockle is given. The records consulted do not list a year-by-year printing history, so any fuller account of reissues would go past the evidence.

What is not yet documented

Several questions remain open in the records consulted. No excerpt states who printed Corncockle. The Art Institute of Chicago record names Merton Abbey in its production details for its example, but no record consulted establishes the printing site for the V&A examples.

The records consulted do not establish:

• The printer or manufacturer of Corncockle.
• The printing site for the V&A examples, beyond the Art Institute of Chicago record naming Merton Abbey in its production details.
• The exact first issue date, as distinct from the 1883 design date given by the V&A and the design registered 1883 date recorded by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Any documented statement by Morris about Corncockle.