Art Institute of Chicago

Flowerpot Fire Screen

Designed by William Morris (English, 1834-1896)

Date

Design early 1880s

Medium

Wood, cotton or linen ground, silk floss

Department

Textiles

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

The two fire screens in the collection [2018.845 and 2018.846] illustrate the variety of ways in which one could purchase objects from Morris & Co. The Flowerpot Fire Screen was likely embroidered, assembled, and sold completed as seen here. May Morris herself stitched several versions of the Flowerpot panel. The Honeysuckle design may have been a kit that was sold for amateurs to embroider themselves, as the stitching is less precise. Both of these designs could also be made into cushions, and they continued to be sold as kits decades after they were introduced.

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