'Sunflower' wallpaper

This wallpaper incorporates a central sunflower head, with tulips, small flowers and a grape vine. The monochrome colourway and the vine give the design a classical aesthetic. William Morris designed the pattern c.1878 and registered the design on 7 January 1879. The firm produced it in a variety of colourways, mainly in yellow or green hues, and it was one of their cheapest wallpapers making it a best seller. Morris & Co. also produced the design in an oil colour on an embossed, foiled and lacquered gold background, which sold for 6 times the price.

In Morris's lecture 'Making the Best of It' (1880), he sets out his ideas on the most attractive flowers for the garden. Of sunflowers he says "though a latecomer to our gardens, is by no means to be despised, since it will grow anywhere, and is both interesting and beautiful, with its sharply chiselled yellow florets relieved by the quaintly patterned sad-coloured centre clogged with honey and beset with bees and butterflies."