Laurel Harlequin Wallpaper - C

This lovely geometric pattern was printed by Moses Grant Jr. and was found in the 2nd Harrison Gray Otis House, designed by Charles Bulfinch and built on Beacon Hill about 1800. The Otis’s moved from this house about 1806 and the paper was probably installed by Mrs. George Gibbs, a wealthy Newport widow, shortly after she bought the house in 1810.
The somewhat abstract, geometric Harlequin styles were popularized by the French about 1800; American printers, emulating the latest French fashion, printed many of these harlequin patterns from 1800-1820. The harlequin effect is achieved by splitting motifs symmetrically and printing each half into a contrasting color.