Bird

William Morris

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This pattern was registered in 1878; Morris designed it for the walls of the drawing room of his family home, Kelmscott House, in the Hammersmith area of London, which they occupied from 1878 until his death in 1896. It continued to be made after Morris & Company established textile production at Merton Abbey in 1881, and it was produced in three colorways. Morris himself referred to this type of fabric as "woven wool tapestry," though it is not technically a tapestry weave but a doublecloth. The effect of this heavy wool fabric when used as a wall covering, as it was at Kelmscott House, is a fine example of Morris' interpretation of the decorative arts of that era

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art