SKÅNE PROVINCE, SOUTH SWEDEN, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Most surviving carriage cushions (agedyna) were woven in the districts of Skytts or Bara in the south west of Skåne province. The dark brown ground of the present lot, woven in the technically challenging flamskväv technique, depicts the popular "red lion" design comprising two royal blue roundels each centred by a leaping red lion beneath a castle, enclosed within a circular wreath and densely surrounded by tulips and other blossoms. This design proved extremely popular in the early 19th century and remained largely unchanged apart from occasional minute variations in colour and drawing, (David Black, Clive Loveless & Peter Willborg, Flatweaves from Fjord and Forest. Scandinavian Tapestries of the 18th and 19th centuries, London 1984, no.17). One of the earliest examples that displayed two rampant crowned lions, dated 1717, sold at Rippon Bowell, Wiesbaden, 26 November 2011, lot 128. For further discussion on this group see Viveka Hansen, (Swedish Textile Art. Traditional Marriage Weavings from Scania, The Khalili Collection. London 1996).