Crimson Flock Wallpaper

This unusually-patterned wallpaper was probably supplied to Charles 9th Viscount Irwin or his wife Frances by John Tempest in 1766. It was hung at about that time in a smallish room, probably identifiable as 'Sir John Ramsden's Dressing Room' on the second floor of the West Wing, in the inventory of Temple Newsam in 1808.

By that date, however, it must already have been replaced for the room was reduced in size by the introduction into the passage beyond of a Neoclassical staircase by James Wyatt in about 1777. So it probably had a life of only about 11 years.

Small-patterned flock wallpapers, often printed and flocked (i.e. pasted with dyed and chopped wool, know as 'flock'), were popular for bedrooms and dressing rooms in mid 18th century England. The pattern is also found on a decorative paper printed in Bologna in Italy in 1777, but this wallpaper is certainly English.

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