Triple Net by William Morris: The Story of the Wallpaper

What Triple Net looks like

The V&A describes the Triple Net pattern as a floral and foliage design that develops symmetrically, running centrally and vertically along the length of the paper, set on a dark ground. That description covers the specimen numbered O248819.

The second specimen, O249281, reads differently. The V&A records it as a design covered in dots on a brown ground. The two records therefore describe two appearances of the pattern, one dark and one brown, and the museum's wording does not explain how the two relate beyond sharing the Triple Net title.

Beyond the words floral and foliage, no specific plants have been securely identified in Triple Net by any source used here. The pattern is best described in the museum's own terms rather than through named flowers.

Date and attribution: what the records say

The V&A records Triple Net as designed by William Morris. This rests on the museum's own catalogue records, and no second published attribution has been confirmed for this design.

The dates come from the two specimens. The V&A gives a production date of 1891 for O248819 and a production date of ca. 1891 for O249281. These are production dates for the surviving papers, not a documented design date.

An exact date of design, and any first issue or registration date, are not established from the evidence used here. Where a source is silent, this page stays silent too.

Who made Triple Net and how

Triple Net is a colour woodblock print on paper, made in England. That is the full technique the V&A records; the number of blocks used, or any further detail of the printing process, is not stated in the sources used here.

The maker evidence comes from one specimen. According to the V&A, the O249281 example was published by Morris & Co. and printed by Jeffrey & Co. For the other specimen, O248819, the printer is not recorded, so the Jeffrey & Co. credit cannot be extended to it with confidence.

Two specimens in the V&A

Both known museum examples of Triple Net are held by the Victoria and Albert Museum. Each carries an ink inscription on the back giving title, number and price, a practical record of how the papers were sold and catalogued.

The pattern book contexts matter for dating. According to the V&A, the O248819 specimen sits in a volume of Morris & Co. patterns spanning 1882 to 1896, and the museum gives that specimen a production date of 1891.

Where the evidence runs out

Several questions about Triple Net cannot be answered from the records used here, and it is more useful to name them than to paper over them.

The open questions are:

• No specific plants or motifs are securely identified; the V&A describes the pattern only as floral and foliage.
• There is no documented statement by Morris about Triple Net.
• No museum holdings beyond the two V&A specimens have been confirmed.
• No later reissues of Triple Net have been confirmed.
• The printer of specimen O248819 is not recorded; the Jeffrey & Co. credit applies only to O249281.

Triple Net in Morris's wallpaper work

Triple Net belongs to the later stretch of Morris & Co. wallpaper production. According to the V&A, between 1882 and Morris's death in 1896, Morris & Company issued a further 35 new wallpaper designs. The V&A dates the surviving Triple Net specimens to 1891 and about 1891.

Morris himself was modest about the medium. According to the V&A, he described wallpaper as a 'makeshift' decoration, a tolerable substitute for grander wall coverings. That view did not stop the firm from producing wallpapers steadily across three decades.

For the wider run of patterns issued by the firm, the complete list of Morris wallpaper designs sets Triple Net alongside its contemporaries.

Seeing Triple Net and related patterns

The Victoria and Albert Museum is the place to study Triple Net at first hand, since both recorded specimens, O248819 and O249281, are in its collection. Checking the museum's online catalogue before a visit is the practical way to confirm what is on display.

If you want the pattern on a wall rather than behind glass, our William Morris Original Designs collection includes prints drawn from the firm's documented patterns.