Wreath Wallpaper by William Morris: History and Design

Quick facts

The essentials of the record can be set out plainly, with what is unknown left blank. The V&A caption for Wreath states it is a wallpaper designed by William Morris, manufactured by Jeffrey & Co., 1876, England.

Key facts from the V&A records:

• Designer: William Morris, as recorded by the V&A.
• Date: 1876, given as a production date in the museum's records.
• Maker: Jeffrey & Co., named in the V&A caption.
• Medium: printed on paper.
• Museum numbers: O248613 and O248608 at the V&A.

What the pattern shows

Wreath is a foliate pattern of entwined green leaves and blue flowers. The V&A describes the related record O248692, titled The Wreath or New Ceiling, as a formalised floral pattern featuring a circular wreath of flowers and foliage, printed in colour from woodblocks.

The records name no plant species for the design, so none can be given here. According to the V&A, Morris's wallpaper designs centre on plant-based forms and are subtle, stylised evocations of natural forms rather than literal transcriptions, which is a useful frame for reading the entwined foliage of this pattern.

The V&A specimens and how they reached the museum

The V&A holds two specimens of Wreath. One, museum number O248613, is part of Volume 1, a pattern book containing 25 Morris & Co. wallpapers. The other, O248608, carries a production date of 1876 and records William Morris as designer.

Both the O248608 specimen and the related O248692 record were given to the museum by Morris & Co., so the firm itself supplied examples of its own work to the V&A.

How Morris wallpapers like this were printed

The printing of Morris wallpapers involved several named trades. The wood-blocks were cut by the family firm Barrett's in Bethnal Green, who dealt directly with Morris's firm in the transfer of designs. The London firm Jeffrey & Co., which specialised in high quality Art wallpapers, printed Morris wallpapers in distemper, water-based colours giving a thick chalky effect.

The evidence does not confirm that Barrett's and Jeffrey & Co. worked on Wreath specifically rather than on Morris wallpapers generally. The V&A caption does name Jeffrey & Co. as the manufacturer of the Wreath specimen it describes.

Wreath in Morris's wallpaper work

The V&A lists Wreath among Morris wallpaper designs of the 1870s, alongside Chrysanthemum. For a closer look at Acanthus, another pattern from Morris's wallpaper work, see our guide to Acanthus.

According to the V&A, the more complex designs of this period involved a large number of individual printing blocks, making the papers more costly than Morris's earlier, simpler designs. Wreath belongs to this decade of dense, layered foliage patterns.

Two statements by Morris about wallpaper design survive in the evidence, though neither concerns Wreath specifically. Writing about wallpaper, Morris criticised what he called sham-real boughs and flowers.

He also advised designers to avoid falling into the trap of trying to make your paper look as if it were painted by hand. Both remarks come from Morris's writings on wallpaper design, and both describe principles rather than this particular pattern.

What the records do not settle

According to the V&A, the 1876 date in its records is a production and caption date. The evidence does not establish whether it is the design date or the first issue or registration date, so this page states it as a production date only.

Attribution to William Morris rests on the V&A's records. No second museum holding of Wreath is documented in the evidence, and no documented statement by Morris about Wreath itself survives; the quotations above concern wallpaper design generally. The evidence also names no plant species for the pattern and records no later reissues.

Seeing Wreath: the V&A holdings

Examples of Wreath can be studied at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which holds the specimens O248613 and O248608, together with the related record O248692 for The Wreath or New Ceiling. All were given by Morris & Co. The specimens are inscribed on the back with title, number and price.

For the wider context of the firm's printed papers, our complete list of Morris wallpaper designs sets Wreath alongside its contemporaries.