Cartoon for 'Lily and Pomegranate' wallpaper

Wallpaper was the most successful and enduringly popular aspect of all of Morris’s output, and he designed approximately fifty patterns during his lifetime.

'Lily and Pomegranate' is one of the more formal of Morris's wallpapers from the 1880s, resembling some of the historic textiles which he studied at the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A). The dotted background is a favourite device of Morris, found in both his wallpapers and textiles, and one which he enjoyed painting in his designs. When a friend asked him why he did not hand over such mechanical work to an assistant, Morris replied "After taking all the trouble to draw it, do you think I'd be such a fool as not to do the dots?"

From the late 1870s Morris used a dotted background to add depth to his designs, replacing the layered floral patterns that characterised much of his earlier work. Many themes remained the same, however; pomegranates were a favourite motif and used by Morris from an early stage, for example in his 'Fruit' pattern from 1866. The final pattern issued by Morris and Co. in 1927, 31 years after Morris’s death, was called 'Bird and Pomegranate'.

The coloured part of this design helpfully illustrates the large, complicated repeat in this pattern, which is vertically symmetrical. Design drawings are regularly only partially coloured as all of the essential information can be conveyed within one version of the repeat.