Design for 'Flowerpot' embroidery

Morris based this design on two Italian seventeenth-century lacis work panels acquired by the South Kensington Museum in 1875. Lacis work is handmade net onto which a design is darned.

'Flowerpot' was extremely commercially successful. Clients could buy the design, used as a cushion cover or firescreen, as a kit to embroider themselves at home, or already completed by one of Morris & Co.'s professional embroiderers.

For a completed version of the embroidery, see William Morris Gallery F154. Another version of the 'Flowerpot' design is in the William Morris Society's collection (watercolour and pencil on paper).