Pavona Blanche

This flamboyant, vibrant peacock design is a beautiful example of late-19th century wallpaper printing. Found on a lobby wall at Erddig in Wales, it was hung in the 1870s, and has the painterly finish of a traditional Chinese silk. Showing peacocks perched on branches, accessorised by flowers, leaves and birds, the subject is typical of wallpapers and fabrics produced to satisfy the western elite’s interest in Chinese design. Coloured in eight vibrant ways including elegant pale and bolder dark grounds, and even a shimmering gold.