Carriage Cushion Cover (Birds in Octagons and Standing Women)

Location: Sweden, South-east Scania

Materials: interlocked tapestry

Dimensions: 54 x 98 cm

Accession Number: SW 72

Other Notes:

The composition seen here is very much like that used for the reindeer tapestries: a field filled with two adjoining and elongated octagons. Here, however, a bird with a three-branched tail is placed in the centre of each octagon; both are the same way up and face the same way. Looking out from each of the sides is a standing woman. The initials have been embroidered, rather than woven. Inscribed examples with this design span an unusually long period, from 1750 to 1863.

Bibliography:

V. Hansen, Swedish Textile Art: Traditional Marriage Weavings from Scania: The Khalili Collection, London 1996, cat. 40, pp. 114–15.