Charles Fairfax Murray joined Burne-Jones's studio in 1866 to assist him with the decorative schemes commissioned by Morris and Co. He enlarged the designs supplied in miniature by Burne-Jones, the resulting full-size cartoons being frequently altered by the master before they were issued to the commissioners. In the case of the design Poesis, the underlying watercolour in burnt sienna is entirely the work of Murray whilst much of the superimposed work in chinese white is from Burne-Jones's hand. Poesis was first commissioned by the Royal School of Needlework in the early 1870s and numerous versions were embroidered from it. These were in outline worked with brown crewels. The version commissioned by the Hon. Percy Wyndham for his mansion, "Clouds", for which the present design is a cartoon, was worked in full colour. There is a pencil sketch, 13 1/2 by 9 3/8 inches in the Birmingham Art Gallery which is probably the design Murray used.