Skip to main content
Cray

William Morris and Morris & Company

Cray

1883-1916

Scroll

Cray

1883-1916

Physical Qualities Cotton, 142 3/4 x 68 3/8 in. (362.6 x 173.7 cm.)
Credit Line The Jane and Worth B. Daniels, Jr. Fund
Object Number 2004.95
Two joined lengths of medium weight ,balanced, plain-woven cotton block-printed with the design "Cray," consisting of meandering vines of lush peony blossoms and buds, with delicate scrolling leaves. The white cotton is printed in shades of pink, yellow, blue, green, brown and black with a cranberry-red ground. "Cray" is a complex design, which required thirty-four separate blocks to complete one printed repeat. The vertical repeat is 36-1/4 and the horizontal 17-11/16 in. The panels each include approximately four vertical and two horizontal pattern repeats. The two lengths are full widths joined just past the unprinted selvage with machine stitching in purple thread. The printed patterns are matched. The right and left edges are now unprinted selvages; however, a crease and change in color as well as loose bits of threads along the fold line indicate that the right edge had been folded over approximately 4-7/8" and attached to another piece of fabric or another surface. The left edge was also joined to another panel as indicated by a fold or crease along the unprinted selvage with small holes and pieces of thread remaining. The top edge of one of the joined panels is pieced with two 2-1/2" to 2-3/4" strips of the same "Cray" print, one 15-1/2" long and another 18-1/4" long. Both are pieced in by handstitches using purple thread. The top edge of the joined panels is folded over 1/2" to 1" but not hemmed. Small pieces of brown thread and groups of wrinkles spaced along the folded edge indicate that it was probably gathered at intervals and sewn to a ring or other hanging device.
Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2004; Cora Ginsburg LLC, New York, NY by purchase, 2004; Christies South Kensington Auction.
Great Lengths

Pre-Raphaelites, 1848-1900
Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design, 1848-1900. Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art (Brochure), p.2.
"In A New Light." BMA Campaign brochure, inside cover.
Parry, Linda. Ed. William Morris. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996, p. 268, illus. M. 72.

Parry, Linda. William Morris Textiles. New York: The Viking Press, 1983, p. 54; p. 141; fig. 57, p. 157.

Inscribed: Printed on the selvage in dark brown: "Morris & Company 449 Oxford Street London W"

Designer

William Morris

1833–1895

English, 1834-1896
Meet William →

Manufacturer

Morris & Company

1874–1939

1875-1940; working at Merton Abbey, 1881-1940
Meet Morris →

Explore the Collection Further

BY SAME ARTIST
TEXTILES
William Morris and Morris & Company
Hammersmith Carpet
1879–1909
Nancy Stevenson Graves
Footscray (Australia Series)
1984
William Morris and Morris & Company
Bird
1876–1877
Paulus Pontius and Sir Anthony van Dyck
Gaspar de Crayer
1624–1649
William Morris and Morris & Company
Kennet
1877–1887
Paulus Pontius, Sir Anthony van Dyck, and others
Gaspar de Crayer
1624–1649
William Morris and Morris & Company
Bird
1877
Dominique Vivant Denon
Essai au Crayon, à la Plume et à l'Estompe
1808
William Morris and Morris & Company
Peacock and Dragon
1877
Colima
Crayfish Vessel
250
William Morris and Morris & Company
Strawberry Thief
1882
Colima
Crayfish vase
300–400