Inside the Story · No. 18 · Monday 26 October 2026 · Craft · South Asia and Western

Indian Red on an English Block

This fritillary comes from Snakeshead, a William Morris cotton of 1876 or 1877, block printed in England while Indian silks were in style and widely imported from British India.

The inside story of a design inspired by Snakeshead, a William Morris cotton of 1876 or 1877, in The Cleveland Museum of Art.

The source

SnakesheadPlain weave cotton, printed · England, Walthamstow (printing); the design by William Morris (British, 1834 to 1896), Early 20th century printing (museum date 1920) of a design of 1876 or 1877 · Overall: 85.1 x 100.3 cm (33 1/2 x 39 1/2 in.)The Cleveland Museum of Art · Snakeshead, Early 20th century. William Morris (British, 1834 to 1896). Plain weave cotton, printed; overall: 85.1 x 100.3 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Henry Chisholm, 1937.695. CC0. · object Cleveland Museum of Art accession 1937.695 (web id 117128, never used on screen) · CC0View at The Cleveland Museum of Art ↗

When Morris designed Snakeshead, the museum says, Indian silks were in style and widely imported from British India; its strong red and black were fashionable only for a short time before paler hues regained favour. The flower is the fritillary, a wildflower Morris remembered from the meadows near Oxford. The V&A dates the design to 1876, with first trials in Thomas Wardle's pattern books in January 1877; Wardle block printed it at Leek for Morris & Co., which sold its textiles in two London shops. The V&A adds that the design may have been at least partly inspired by Indian palampores.

What we saw

Five parts, traced from the photograph

1The fritillaryFirst, the fritillary. Red flames with cream outer petals, and a dotted teardrop at its heart. Four across the cloth.

2The flame-leaf fanThen the flame-leaf fan. Cream leaves on a red base, thirteen centimetres wide.

3The lattice coneA lattice cone, like a pine cone, with two sage leaves.

4The speckled bellsThe speckled bells. Red, with cream tips, three to a spray.

5The small white bells and the scrolling leaf groundAnd the small white bells, single and in threes, on the scrolling leaf ground.

5 prints, each from a different part

Each print starts from a part of the source

From this partThe fritillary

Print 1 · All-over

Fritillary and Fan

For the first print, I set the fritillary into the fan.

One new motif, in an open half-drop, in navy and madder. For dress material. And the same in cream.

Repeat: Half drop repeat · tile 2300 × 1650 px · 38.9 × 27.9 cm
Made for: Surat, Ahmedabad and Jaipur dress-material processors; boutique ethnic labels selling navy-and-madder kurtas; the cream colourway for summer dress and co-ord buyers in the UK and US
Why it sells: A 19 cm buta in an open half-drop on navy, five flat colours, cuts any way and reads as a bold block-print all-over at kurta scale; the cream swap gives a second range from the same screens.

Women's dress material and kurta fabric110 cm width5 coloursrotary screen or digital pigment on cotton cambricrayon or modalFive colours

From this partThe lattice cone

Print 2 · All-over

Cone and Bell Ditsy

Then the cone with the small white bells.

Rows of cones, rows of bells, on a diagonal lattice. A ditsy for shirting.

Repeat: Straight repeat · tile 2380 × 2600 px · 40.3 × 44 cm
Made for: Shirting mills and menswear brands running navy ditsy ranges; co-ord and kidswear labels
Why it sells: A 3 cm cone and a 2 cm bell on a 5.8 cm lattice in four flat colours is a classic shirting ditsy: dense enough to read as a texture at arm's length, no direction waste.

Men's and women's shirting150 cm width4 coloursrotary or digital on cotton poplin or a linen blendFour colours

From this partThe flame-leaf fan

Print 3 · Stripe

Fan and Bell Stripe

Then the fan with the speckled bells.

A column of fans, a column of bell sprays, a slate rule between. A stripe for co-ords and dupattas.

Repeat: Stripe repeat · tile 2104 × 2400 px · 35.6 × 40.6 cm
Made for: Co-ord and resort labels wanting a directional stripe; dupatta printers pairing it with print A as the body
Why it sells: An 18 cm stripe of 8 cm fan plumes and 6 cm bell sprays on navy reads as a woven-looking band at garment distance and runs along a dupatta without a border.

Co-ord setsdupattas and resort shirting110 to 150 cm width5 coloursdigital or rotary on cottonrayon or georgetteFive colours

From this partThe fritillary

Print 4 · Border

Fritillary Border

Then the fritillary heads over the scroll.

A row of heads standing in the cloth's own scrolling ground, bell sprays between. A dupatta border.

Repeat: Border repeat · tile 2742 × 1063 px · 46.4 × 18 cm
Made for: Surat saree process houses for festive georgette and crepe; dupatta printers selling body-plus-border sets with print A or B as the body; home-textile brands for curtain hems
Why it sells: A 23 cm one-way band with 8 cm heads standing in a real scroll ground is a strong, readable border at hem distance, and the scroll gives it weight without a plain band.

Dupatta and saree border18 cm deep5 coloursengineered along the selvedge or as a separate border screenalso kurta daman and curtain hemsFive colours

From this partThe fritillary

Print 5 · Placement

One Repeat

And last, one full repeat, as Morris drew it.

The museum's own length, one repeat, as a placement panel.

Repeat: Placement print, not a repeat
Made for: Home-textile brands (cushions, table centres) and boutique labels wanting the Morris repeat itself, with the museum's attribution
Why it sells: One 32 x 41 cm repeat of the printed cloth is the right size for a cushion front or a pallu placement, and it carries the whole design in one panel.

Cushion fronts (40 x 40 cm)a saree pallu panel or a kurta back6 coloursdigital on cottonlinen or georgetteSix colours

The palette

Every colour here was already in the source.

#202F3BNavy ground · from the source

#8E2D30Madder red · from the source

#D8C0A3Cream · from the source

#858C8ESlate blue · from the source

#939176Sage green · from the source

#E0BDA7Salmon (the fritillary's outer petals) · from the source

Why now

Navy and madder in the cloth's own six colours for AW27 dress, shirting and border development; the cream colourway for summer.

Previous storyFlower Work, Counted From the Back Next storyDrawn in India for Japan

Source: Snakeshead, England, Walthamstow (printing); the design by William Morris (British, 1834 to 1896), Early 20th century printing (museum date 1920) of a design of 1876 or 1877, Plain weave cotton, printed. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Snakeshead, Early 20th century. William Morris (British, 1834 to 1896). Plain weave cotton, printed; overall: 85.1 x 100.3 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Henry Chisholm, 1937.695. CC0., object Cleveland Museum of Art accession 1937.695 (web id 117128, never used on screen). CC0. View the object.

Facts from: clevelandart.org, collections.vam.ac.uk.