Design for woven fabric with birds and palms

This sketch by William Morris was likely intended for a woven textile repeat pattern, but was never realised. It bears a resemblance to a number of bird designs Morris & Co. produced in the late 1870s, including ‘Bird’ and ‘Bird and Dragon’, both designed by Morris in 1878. The fabrics were manufactured at the Morris & Co. premises at Queen Square, London, before subsequently being woven on hand-activated jacquard looms in the textile workshop Morris established at Merton Abbey.