The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Textile patterned with strips of vines winding vertically down, two rows of large, cream to yellow colored flowers running across them. A dense cream vine, foliage, and flower pattern is silhouetted against dark blue in the background. The upper row of flowers have leaves curling in towards a cluster of frills in the center while the lower row features flatter petals around a central cluster of seeds. Twisting half dark-green, half light-blue leaves fill the gap between each row of flowers.

Kennet

c 1920
designer

William Morris

(British, 1834–1896)
England, Merton Abbey, 20th century
plain weave cotton, printed
Overall: 90.2 x 97.8 cm (35 1/2 x 38 1/2 in.)
Gift of Mrs. Henry Chisholm 1937.698
Location: Not on view

Description

Morris said that he used the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria & Albert Museum) more than anyone alive. As one of the most knowledgeable textile historians of his day, Morris filtered his love of nature through the lens of history. Later textiles with strong diagonal orientation, such as Kennet, show a debt to the centuries-old Italian cut velvet that he had studied. Named after a river in the south of England that flows into the Thames, Kennet is an example of one of his patterns that could be purchased in a variety of colors and fabrics, including cotton, velveteen, silk, and Madras muslin, creating limitless possibilities to appeal to consumers’ needs and tastes.
  • Parry, Linda. William Morris Textiles. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1983. p.155, no 49
    Korkow, Cory. "Textiles." IN William Morris: Designing an Earthly Paradise. Cory Korkow and Victoria Hepburn, 8-23. Cleveland, Ohio : Cleveland Museum of Art, 2017 . Mentioned: p. 19; reproduced: p. 21, fig. 15.
  • William Morris: Designing an Earthly Paradise. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24, 2017-January 14, 2019).
    Design in Printed Textiles. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 7-September 3, 1961).
  • {{cite web|title=Kennet|url=false|author=William Morris|year=c 1920|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1937.698