Lot 972
WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896) FOR MORRIS & CO.
RARE 'ST. JAMES' PATTERN WALLPAPER REPEAT, CIRCA 1881
Auction: Day Two: 22 April 2021 | From 11:00
£1,125
Description
block-printed paper, framed
Dimensions
118cm x 106cm
Footnote
Provenance: St. James Palace, London
Literature: Clark, Fiona (editor) William Morris: Wallpapers and Chintzes, Academy Editions 1974, p. 15 and 36, no. 28 illus.
Note: Morris & Co. only undertook two public commissions, and this rare repeat fragment of wallpaper comes from one of them - St James’s Palace, London. It was removed during a renovation. The other commission was for the South Kensington Museum. The two are possibly connected “through the influence of Richard Redgrave, who was both on the staff at South Kensington and, in his capacity as Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures, was reorganising the paintings at St. James’ from 1864 onwards.”