Comparison · Design Comparisons
Willow vs Willow Bough: Telling Two Morris Designs Apart
Willow and Willow Bough are two distinct William Morris wallpaper designs, dated thirteen years apart in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's records. This comparison sets the two Met sheets side by side.
On this page
Willow and Willow Bough are two separate William Morris wallpaper designs held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, dated 1874 and 1887 respectively. The clearest documented difference between them is their date of design, thirteen years apart, recorded in the Met's collection entries.
The Met's records treat them as distinct catalogue entries, each with its own accession number, technique and acquisition history.
The clearest difference: two dates, two designs
The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds a wallpaper titled Willow with William Morris credited as designer, which the Met dates to 1874. The Met also holds a wallpaper titled Willow Bough, also credited to William Morris as designer, dated 1887. Two titles, two dates, two accession numbers.
That thirteen-year gap is the single most verifiable distinction between the two, and it is enough to establish that these are not one design recorded under two names. For a fuller treatment of each pattern, see the page on Willow and the page with more on Willow Bough.
Side-by-side: the Met's records compared
The table below sets the two Met sheets against each other, cell by cell, using each sheet's own collection record.
| Field | Willow | Willow Bough |
|---|---|---|
| Designer credit | William Morris | William Morris |
| Date | 1874 (per the Met) | 1887 (per the Met) |
| Classification | Wallpaper | Wallpaper |
| Technique | Block-printed | Block-printed in distemper colors |
| Sheet dimensions | 25 3/4 x 17 13/16 in. (65.4 x 45.2 cm) | 27 x 21 1/2 in. (68.6 x 54.6 cm) |
| Accession number | 39.18.5 | 23.163.4k |
| Acquisition | Gift of Mrs. John C. Jessup, 1939 | Purchase, Edward C. Moore Jr. Gift, 1923 |
Where the two records overlap
The overlaps are as consistent as the differences. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's records, both sheets are classified as wallpaper, both are block-printed, and both carry a designer credit to William Morris rather than to any other hand.
Both sheets are also public domain under the Met's Open Access programme, which is why they can be illustrated and studied freely. If you are mapping either design against the wider body of work, the Morris wallpaper list gathers the documented wallpaper designs in one place.
What the sources do and do not settle
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's records settle attribution and dating for both sheets, but they leave several questions open. It is more useful to flag those gaps than to paper over them.
On the evidence of the two Met records alone:
- The Met's records credit William Morris as designer but name no manufacturing firm or block-printer for either wallpaper.
- Neither record describes the visual appearance of the pattern, so a visual comparison of Willow against Willow Bough cannot yet be made from these sources alone.
- No conflicting institutional sources were supplied, so no disputed facts can be reported here.
Readers who want the visual side of the comparison should treat that as a gap to fill from other collections, rather than accept unsourced descriptions. The individual design pages, Willow and more on Willow Bough, are the natural next step as they grow.
Which sources to trust for this comparison
This comparison rests on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection records for accessions 39.18.5 and 23.163.4k. Those records supply the dates, techniques, dimensions and acquisition histories set out above, and no conflicting institutional sources were found in the material consulted for this page.
For readers who want to go deeper on either side, the fuller design pages cover Willow Bough and Willow in more detail, and the Morris wallpaper list places both within the wider run of Morris wallpaper designs.
For a closer look at one side of the comparison, continue to the full Willow Bough wallpaper page, or browse the William Morris Original Designs collection to see how the firm's patterns sit alongside one another.
Sources & further reading
- Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe Met 39.18.5: WillowMuseum collection databaseRead source
- Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe Met 23.163.4k: Willow BoughMuseum collection databaseRead source
