Coleridge is a damask built from leaves rather than from scrollwork. Instead of the acanthus-derived volutes that carry most patterns of this type, the structure is made from foliage and flowers caught at the bud, drawn full and slightly heavy, so the ogee framework is described by the plants themselves rather than by ornament hung with plants.
That gives it a different weight from the rest of its family. It is bold in the way a good chintz is bold, through the size and confidence of the drawing rather than through contrast, and the chalky grounds it is printed on keep it from becoming grand. There is no metallic and no gloss; the whole design depends on drawing and on the matte surface it sits against.
The match is a half drop at a 70 cm repeat on a 0.53 m roll, which staggers the motif across widths and stops any column forming down the wall. It belongs in a room used properly rather than kept for best: a hall, a bedroom, a landing, a small sitting room. It takes painted furniture, plain matting and unlined curtains without effort, and it will happily sit behind pictures. It is a working damask rather than a grand one, which is the point of it.
