'Tulip' printed cotton

William Morris created his ‘Tulip’ design as part of a flurry of pattern-making in the mid-1870s. This series of designs including ‘Honeysuckle’, ‘Marigold’, ‘Iris’ and ‘Carnation’ evoke a sense of the English countryside in spring and summer. Two events occurred in the 1870s that informed the creation of these pastoral designs: the first was Morris’s discovery of Kelmscott Manor which would become his country home from 1871; the second was Morris’s success at fabric dyeing after experimenting with the industrialist Thomas Wardle at his silk works in Leek, Staffordshire.

In 1875 Morris spent a great deal of time in Leek, working with Wardle on their dyeing techniques. This pattern, featuring variegated tulips and acanthus leaves, was the first design to be printed by Wardle for Morris & Co. Even after Morris established his own printing works at Merton Abbey in 1881, ‘Tulip’ continued to be printed at Wardle’s dyeing works into the twentieth century. This example can be dated to between 1917 and 1940 by the distinctive ‘Morris and Company’ mark that the firm used at that time. The original design for the pattern and wood blocks are also held at the William Morris Gallery.