For BackgroundRole you must always return QBrush. You can use void QBrush::setTexture ( const QPixmap & pixmap ) to set the image use to draw your background. But then it must be a correct size, so it is not drawn couple of times.

The only reasonable solution would be to subclass QStyledItemDelagate (not QItemDelegate) and reimplement paint method. If you have painted a QWidget before, this should be very straight forward.

Use setItemDelegateForColumn method to set a delegate on your TableView