Seat Cushion Cover (Rampant Lion)

Location: Sweden, Scania, possibly Oxie district

Materials: dove-tail tapestry

Dimensions: 47 x 51 cm

Accession Number: SW 76

Other Notes:

The rampant lion motif, usually woven in facing pairs, was most frequently used in Oxie district, which is therefore a likely origin for this seat cushion. Often a tower or castle is placed between the lions, to form the lion-castle motif. The large lion here is most impressively depicted and the background is filled with green leaves, which are rare features. As with the tapestry illustrated in SW 93, the naturalistic birds here were woven in the direction of the warp, while the lion was woven perpendicular to the warp, which is more usual in these small tapestries.

Bibliography:

V. Hansen, Swedish Textile Art: Traditional Marriage Weavings from Scania: The Khalili Collection, London 1996, cat. 13, pp.50–1.