Tulip and Rose by William Morris: The Woven Textile Explained

A four-panel wool weave: what the object is

The documented Tulip and Rose object is physical and specific. The Art Institute of Chicago's example is a four-panel joined textile in wool, woven as a plain weave triple cloth. That record describes a heavy furnishing weave, not a printed cotton, and the joining of four panels suggests a cloth woven in widths and assembled for use.

The museum holds the piece under reference number 1984.85, purchased with funds provided by Louise Lutz and Mildred Davison and the Textile Purchase Fund. That object number is the anchor for everything else on this page: the attribution, the date and the maker records all attach to it.

Attribution and the 1876 date

The Art Institute of Chicago attributes Tulip and Rose to William Morris, the English designer who lived from 1834 to 1896, and dates the design to 1876. The V&A's record agrees: it holds Tulip and Rose as a furnishing fabric designed by William Morris, manufactured by the Heckmondwike Manufacturing Company in 1876 in England, with the museum number CIRC.390A-1970. The V&A describes it as a furnishing fabric made in England.

One caution about the date. Neither museum record specifies whether 1876 is a design date, a first issue date or a registration date, and no source consulted here distinguishes them. So 1876 should be read as the date the museums assign to the object, no more precisely than that.

Who wove it: Morris & Co. and the Heckmondwike question

The maker records are the most interesting part of the file, because the two institutions state them differently. The Art Institute of Chicago records Tulip and Rose as produced by Morris & Co., London, and probably woven by the Heckmondwike Manufacturing Company, Yorkshire. The V&A states the manufacturer more firmly, recording Heckmondwike as the manufacturer of its furnishing fabric without hedging. Both positions concern the same firm, and the difference is one of confidence, not of identity.

The Heckmondwike Manufacturing Company was an English firm founded in 1873, according to the Art Institute of Chicago. That makes it a young company, about three years old, when the 1876 Tulip and Rose was made. The evidence does not state whether the commission was arranged through Morris & Co. or directly by Morris, so that question stays open here.

The Morris & Co. side of the record has its own context. The V&A dates the restructuring and renaming of the firm as Morris & Company to 1875, when William Morris became sole director. Tulip and Rose therefore belongs to the first years of the reorganised firm under Morris's sole control.

The evidence does not describe the triple cloth weaving process itself, so this page does not attempt to explain how a triple cloth is constructed. What the record establishes is the structure on the object: wool, plain weave, triple cloth.

Where examples survive

Two museum holdings are documented in the records used here, each with an object number. They are listed below.

A note on the V&A example. The evidence for its record does not state the medium, so it is not described here as woven or printed. Only the Art Institute of Chicago's example is documented as a wool triple cloth weave.

What the title tells us, and what it does not

The name Tulip and Rose promises two plants, but the museum records used here do not identify any depicted motifs. No source in the evidence describes the pattern's flowers or confirms that tulips and roses appear in the design, so this page cannot securely say what the cloth shows beyond what its title carries. Readers who want a visual answer should look at the museum images for the two object numbers listed above.

Two further gaps should be stated plainly. No documented statement by William Morris about Tulip and Rose appears in the records consulted, and no evidence of later reissues of the design was found. If either turns up, this page can be extended.

Tulip and Rose among Morris's woven florals

Tulip and Rose sits in a small cluster of paired plant title designs from the 1870s. The V&A holds Tulip and Willow, a furnishing fabric designed by William Morris and made by Morris & Co., dated 1873, with museum number CIRC.91-1933. That design predates the reorganised firm by two years.

The closer relative is Tulip and Lily. The V&A holds a sample designed by William Morris and made by the Heckmondwike Manufacturing Company, dated 1875, museum number T.101-1953. That record links Morris and Heckmondwike a year before Tulip and Rose, which makes the 1876 manufacturer record less surprising: the two firms had a documented working connection already.

For the wider picture of Morris's woven work, see the reference list of Morris woven work on this site. And for the paired-title design that came three years earlier, there is a full page on Tulip and Willow, the chintz recorded by the V&A in 1873.