{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1803073"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1803073/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PL2747/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PL2747/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PL2747","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1803073/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1803073","accessionNumber":"T.76-2025","objectType":"Embroidery","titles":[{"title":"Olive and Rose","type":"manufacturer's title"}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"‘Olive and Rose’ embroidered panel, floss silk thread on cotton ground fabric, stitched all over in pale green and cream with pink background, produced as a kit by the Morris &  Co. workroom, London, completed by an unknown amateur  embroiderer, 1880-1910s. In a modern frame.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"William Morris","id":"A8676"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Morris & Co","id":"A1365"},"association":{"text":"retailer","id":"x42180"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silk thread","id":"x30127"},{"text":"cotton","id":"x30337"},{"text":"","id":""}],"techniques":[{"text":"hand embroidery","id":"x30339"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Embroidery","id":"THES48960"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2025PL2747"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES385860"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"embroidery","id":"x40351"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x39722"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca.1880","earliest":"1875-01-01","latest":"1884-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Width","value":"63","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"16/04/2025","earliest":"2025-04-16","latest":"2025-04-16"},"part":"Frame","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"61","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"16/04/2025","earliest":"2025-04-16","latest":"2025-04-16"},"part":"Frame","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"William Morris studied historic needlework during his brief architecture apprenticeship in Oxford and went on to produce experimental embroideries with his wife Jane Burden while decorating Red House, their first home. In the early days of the collaborative partnership that became Morris & Co. Morris designed embroidered textiles ranging from ambitious hangings to bedcovers, and small accessories such as bell-pulls. Morris’s investigations into the craft stimulated his extraordinary talent for textile design and led to his mastery of the complex techniques of dyeing, printing and weaving.\r\n\r\nFrom about 1876 Morris designed a series of small square panels usually sold as kits, with an inked design outlined on plain cloth to be stitched at home in the soft floss silks provided. In the 1890s these cost about 12 shillings. The designs included ‘Flowerpot’, ‘Honeysuckle’ and ‘Olive and Rose’, which often repeated enlarged motifs Morris also used in designs for the distinctive textiles printed with fruit and flowers that he was manufacturing at the same time. The embroidery panels were sometimes incorporated into decorative wooden fire-screens or made into cushion covers. Customers could choose their own ground fabric and colour combinations resulting in unique, personalised end-products.\r\n\r\n‘Olive and Rose’, like other embroidery kit designs, was commercially successful and still popular in 1912, when it was illustrated in the Morris & Co. catalogue <i>Embroidery Work</i>. The design incorporates entwined curved branches, punctuated with formalised roses in profile, sharply defined thorns and the clusters of olives, a choice that suggests that the scheme may have been inspired by Morris’s visit to Italy in 1878. The stylized roses are a motif he used across different media, from book illustrations to wallpapers and printed cotton furnishings. \r\n\r\nThis example is worked in unusual colours, now faded, combining pale olives, cream roses and dark green leaves and stems which stand out against the ground, entirely stitched in pink silk thread. By comparing this colourway and technique with other surviving examples, it illustrates the creativity and flexibility that the Morris & Co. kits offered their customers, enabling them to buy into the Morris & Co. aesthetic and participate in the brand’s ideal of good design using natural materials and hand-crafted production for a relatively affordable price.\r\n\r\nFrom 1885 Morris’s daughter May took over management of the embroidery department, designing many more patterns and overseeing their production in the small workroom. She kept a record of every order and a daybook for the years between 1892 and 1896 now in the National Art Library (MSL/1939/2636) shows that ‘Olive and Rose’ was ordered thirteen times including for ten cushion cover kits needed as stock for the Oxford Street shop. One was also sold to Mrs [probably Joanna] Barr-Smith, one of Morris & Co.’s most enthusiastic customers, for her home in Adelaide. \r\n\r\nThe V&A has an unworked version of 'Olive and Rose' (Circ.300-1960).Other ‘Olive and Rose’ panels are in the collections at the Whitworth Gallery, Wightwick Manor and Wallington (National Trust) and the National Gallery of Ireland (Yeats archive). \r\n\r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"'Olive and Rose' embroidered panel, silk on cotton, designed by William Morris c.1880, worked 1880-1900, designed and retailed in London","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"small batch","id":"THES252237"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.76-2025"],"accessionNumberNum":"76","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":2025,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-01-21","recordCreationDate":"2025-04-16","availableToBook":false}}