Lotus by May Morris

What Lotus shows

Lotus is a floral textile design often sought under the name lotus William Morris. The pattern centers on large, upright lotus blooms with layered petals shaded in coral and soft cream silk tones. Broad, serrated leaves curl around each central flower, sweeping outward in rhythmic arcs with stitched feathering.

Between the main blossoms, five-petaled white flowers display dense, dotted centers in rust red. Slender green stems curl through the field, bearing downward-hanging bell flowers in warm yellow and terracotta. A vertical decorative border runs along the edge, showing climbing leafy vines, delicate buds, and small rosettes. Deep crimson accents sit inside the leaf crown clefts, bringing rich contrast against the dark teal background.

The embroidery stitches create distinct directional texture across the entire surface. Curves in the foliage flow symmetrically along the central stem, balancing broad stylized foliage against fine tendrils and open ground.

Who designed it and when

May Morris designed Lotus in 1888. She was the younger daughter of William Morris and Jane Morris, and an accomplished artisan who took charge of the Morris & Co. embroidery department in 1885 when she was twenty-three years old.

During her time running the department, May Morris produced a broad range of original textile patterns. Many of her pieces were later misattributed to her father, whose fame often overshadowed her achievements. The museum record at the Art Institute of Chicago lists Morris & Co. with May Morris as the designer, reflecting her primary authorship of the work. You can explore her work alongside every William Morris design in our library, which separates May Morris creations from those of her father and John Henry Dearle.

How it was made and used

Lotus was created as an art needlework textile rather than a printed fabric. Unlike block-printed patterns such as Strawberry Thief, this piece was embroidered using free-form needlework techniques that May Morris championed throughout her career.

The design relies on silk thread stitched onto a fabric ground, allowing delicate color shading across petals and leaves. Art needlework rejected the rigid grids of mid-nineteenth-century Berlin wool work in favor of expressive, fluid stitching. Embroiderers worked directly over outlined guide marks, blending tones to produce natural gradations across the scrolling leaves and flower petals. The historical piece in the museum collection was designed and executed in 1888, serving as a decorative textile hanging.

Colourways

The site offers Lotus in its single historical colourway, Teal. This colourway reproduces the original museum textile held by the Art Institute of Chicago under a public domain CC0 license.

The Teal colourway pairs a dark blue-green field with soft off-white, ecru, and silver-toned leaves. Highlights of coral pink, dusty rose, and bright yellow animate the smaller blossoms, while deep wine-red details punctuate the main vertical leaf forms. Because the design survives as a specific embroidered object, no secondary historical colourways were produced for this textile.

Lotus as a print

You can bring Lotus into your living space through three distinct print formats printed and shipped by ArtsyWall. Archival Paper prints use heavyweight 340gsm cotton rag paper with a textured, watercolor feel that showcases the fine stitch details of the scan. These paper prints arrive rolled in a protective tube.

If you prefer stretched art, Premium Canvas features acid-free archival canvas stretched over solid wood bars with an attached sawtooth hanger. Framed Canvas places the canvas inside a wood floating frame, leaving a slim visual gap around the image. You can choose from six frame finishes: black, white, gold, silver, walnut, and oak. Both canvas options arrive ready to hang. On a wall, the dark teal backdrop and structured embroidery curves give the composition a balanced, architectural presence without overwhelming nearby furnishings.