Little Greene Millefleur Masquerade

The floral detail in this design is drawn directly from an incredibly rare, important and lovingly-conserved object, the oldest tapestry in the care of the National Trust. Residing at Montacute House in Somerset, the 10m2 piece is woven from wool and silk and depicts a knight against backdrop of hundreds of tiny flowers on a dark background. It was made in the 15th century as part of a much larger set, and given by the city of Tournai, in Belgium, to Jean de Daillon, a French nobleman and Governor of Dauphine.‘Massingberd Blossom’ (Gunby Hall) c.1905 The wallpaper from which this design is drawn, is most likely of British Edwardian origin, but stylistically is very representative of the era’s passion for oriental design, which – in a time of pre-modern artistic sensibility – was seen to retain a close connection to nature, simplicity and harmony. The trailing blossom and repeating birds are elements commonly found in early, hand-painted chinoiserie, and the use of traditional surface printing retains a tactile quality that subtly offers more to the discerning eye than a conventionally mass-produced paper. It once adorned the walls of the Grey Room at Gunby Hall in Lincolnshire, a large country house built some 200 years earlier for the Member of Parliament William Massingberd, that was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1944.