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Lot Essay
The röllaken weaving technique is possibly the most widely associated with Scandinavian textile design. In Sweden the rö, meaning back and lakan meaning, cloth or cover. This well preserved röllaken was almost certainly woven as part of a young bride's dowry and would have been used as a bedcover or wall hanging within the marital home. The design, and colour palette, is typical of the covers woven in the Gärds or Villands district of North East Scania, and relates closely to an example illustrated in Viveka Hansen, Swedish Textile Art, Traditional Marriage Weavings from Scania, The Khalili Collection: Volume I, London, pl.48, pp.129-131. The cover illustrated in Hansen is much plainer in its ornamentation and demonstrates how the traditional format of adjoining octagons allowed the weaver greater freedom to insert their own designs and motifs.
The present example has some charmingly drawn details within the octagons, which include what appears to be a commentary on marriage with a series of alternating groups of young and old men and smiling women. A number of these intricate motifs, such as the ladies headwear and the keys hanging from each of the men's belts, suggest the hand of the only professional Swedish female weaver to have been identified, Bengta Oredsdotter or Bengta Arman as she is also known. The date of 1822 on the present lot would place the cover within the first few years of her known production which is recorded between 1828 and 1858. For further discussion of similar weavings please see Hansen, (op.cit., pp.42-46). A röllaken of related design was sold in these Rooms, 23 April 2013, lot 4.
The present example has some charmingly drawn details within the octagons, which include what appears to be a commentary on marriage with a series of alternating groups of young and old men and smiling women. A number of these intricate motifs, such as the ladies headwear and the keys hanging from each of the men's belts, suggest the hand of the only professional Swedish female weaver to have been identified, Bengta Oredsdotter or Bengta Arman as she is also known. The date of 1822 on the present lot would place the cover within the first few years of her known production which is recorded between 1828 and 1858. For further discussion of similar weavings please see Hansen, (op.cit., pp.42-46). A röllaken of related design was sold in these Rooms, 23 April 2013, lot 4.