Lily Study

Morris was a keen botanical draftsman, and he likely communicated this enthusiasm to Dearle, who shared with Morris the responsibility for designing backgrounds of the firm's tapestries. After Burne-Jones's designs had been photographed, Morris and Dearle added the greenery to the photograph using tracings taken from their own carefully prepared botanical studies. The lily appears in many Morris & Co. tapestries, such as the trellised fence in the Adoration, some of the Holy Grail narrative panels, and the firm's tapestry illustrating Chaucer's Romaunt de le Rose, woven 1901-07.