St. James Wallpaper Design A3 Print by William Morris

This A3 print features St James, a wallpaper design created by William Morris for St James's Palace. The design was produced alongside the St James silk damask for the decoration of the Throne Room and Wellington Room, forming part of one of Morris & Co.'s most significant royal commissions.

Morris & Co. first secured work at St James's Palace in 1866-67, when they were commissioned to decorate the Armoury and Tapestry Rooms. The commission was later expanded in 1881-82 to include the decoration of all the State Rooms, reflecting the growing reputation of the firm and its decorative schemes.

The wallpaper demonstrates Morris's mastery of repeat pattern design, combining stylised foliage and floral motifs within a complex, symmetrical structure. The scale of the pattern is particularly notable, with a repeat measuring 119.4 × 111.8 cm. Its production required 68 printing blocks and 2 change blocks, highlighting the skill and labour involved in nineteenth-century block-printed wallpaper manufacture.