Archive IV wallpaper collection Morris & Co

Morris & Co Archive IV wallpaper with floral repeats in gold, navy and green

Archive IV wallpaper by Morris & Co gathers floral patterns with long histories, reissued in colors that sit comfortably in a house today. Several started life as carpets, and others go back to the 1860s, 1870s and 1880s. The designs pictured here are all mirrored floral repeats, yet they read very differently on the wall. You get tiny fritillary heads in ochre and gold, flat bellflowers on navy and big Persian-style blooms on deep green. The drawing shifts as well, from fine line work to stencil-like shapes to shaded flowers with a textured surface.

Designs in the Archive IV wallpaper collection

Snakeshead wallpaper packs fritillary flowers and leaves into tight mirrored rows, drawn in fine lines of ochre, gold and cream. It was first produced in 1876 and was reportedly one of Morris's favorites. Morris Bellflowers wallpaper began as a best-selling carpet and sets white bellflowers, rosettes and sage leaf sprays on navy in flat, stencil-like shapes. Montreal wallpaper follows an 1890s carpet by John Henry Dearle, with large Persian-style flowers in cream and coral climbing scrolling stems over green. Wandle wallpaper, first produced in 1884, runs a striped branch diagonally across the wall, sprouting flowers. The original took 32 blocks to print. Bullerswood wallpaper takes its pattern from a hand-woven Merton Abbey carpet that Morris & Co showed at the 1893 Arts and Crafts Society exhibition. Indian wallpaper reproduces an early paper from 1868 to 1870 and keeps the look of the block-printed original, while Indian (Beaded) wallpaper adds a beaded finish for a raised, textured surface.

How to use Archive IV by Morris & Co at home

The smaller repeats, Snakeshead and Morris Bellflowers, are easy to use on all four walls of a bedroom or hallway. From across the room they read almost as texture. Montreal suits a dining room with dark wainscoting, where its big flowers have space to breathe. Pair the gold tones with brass and warm wood, or set the navy ground behind glass and pale ceramics. Selected Wallpapers carries every design in the Archive IV wallpaper collection, so you can compare these Morris & Co patterns side by side.