The harlequin is one of the oldest ornamental devices in the decorator's repertoire, and Titania reduces it to its essentials: a small diamond lattice, evenly repeated, with nothing else in the field. The name comes from the Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream, which suits a pattern that is more suggestion than statement.
Cole & Son print it in neutral shades worked with soft, textured metallics, so the diamonds are established by a change in surface as much as by a change in colour. That is the point of the design. Seen straight on it is almost a plain; seen at an angle, or as the light moves round the room, the lattice comes forward and the wall acquires a shallow, faceted depth. It never behaves quite the same way twice in a day.
Small-scale geometrics of this kind earn their place in the rooms that big patterns cannot manage: a cloakroom, a dressing room, a low-ceilinged bedroom, a corridor with several doors off it. Titania is also a good ground for pictures, since the repeat is fine enough not to argue with a frame. With painted joinery, a plain floor and reasonable lamplight it gives a small room a lift that paint alone will not.
