Snakeshead
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Not currently on view
In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026
Discussion
FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG
This pattern was first produced in collaboration with dye chemist Thomas Wardle (English, 1831–1909) in 1877, after three months of experimentation. Wardle’s company continued to print selected Morris patterns, and when Thomas died in 1909, his son Bernard maintained this relationship. Unlike woven textiles, the printed textiles are marked with Morris & Co.’s logo on their selvages (outer edges), and the different styles of the typeface offer clues to when a fabric was actually made. The selvages of this example indicate that it was made some time between 1925 and 1940.
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