By Karin Mellbye Gjesdahl 

The following is part four of an article by Karin Melbye Gjesdahl, “Weaving in Valdres” [“Vevkunst I Valdres”] published in Valdres Bygdebok, Vol. 5, 1964, pp. 59-74. (A bygdebok is a compilation of local history.) Translated by Lisa Torvik, 2021. (Part one. Part two. Part three.)

From Øystre Slidre there is also a cushion and a pillow cover on which a vase with stylized flowers, grape bunches and clusters of leaves are represented. (O.K. 8038 and 6041).  This was a favorite motif during the 1500s and 1600s but these [examples] must be relatively later works since the motif is highly stylized and disorganized.  It is even doubtful that the cushion cover is of Norwegian origin at all.   That is to say it is woven with interlocking technique, not the usual hatching technique which is for the most part used in Norwegian tapestry weaving.  The yellow-brown and blue-green colors in which it is woven are in any case associated with more urban-influenced works.

We have also preserved a number of pillow covers from Valdres with almost geometric patterns.  It will be going too far afield  to discuss each one separately. – We have eight-petaled roses in octagonal frames (fig. 29) or placed in a stair-stepped rectangle set on edge (fig. 30) and crossed lilies arranged in the same way (fig. 31).  The one with the stair-stepped rectangles has essentially the same motif as the borders on the dated virgin-design covers.  Even though these geometric motifs are ancient in textile art, all these pillow covers are of a relatively later date.  One is from Skogstad, and another from Nygard [both] in Vang.  The latter is very monotonous in tones, using only gold and blue colors with a little black and white, while several of the other [covers] are woven in bright colors.

A couple of the pillow covers are designed with large, nearly octagonal frames with an eight-petaled rose in the center and S-shaped figures all around (fig. 32).  The octagonals consist of a broad striped border, a motif which we often find on the pillow covers from Trøndelag.  One of these pillow covers comes from Vang [in Valdres] (NF 224-99).  We also find the same striped frames on another pillow case, constructed of rectangles set on end with crosses and S-shaped figures (fig. 33).  All in all it appears that we can detect in the Valdres works certain features that are characteristic of tapestry weaving in South Trøndelag. The large, pointed crowns on some of the virgin-design pillow covers and the stair-stepped borders, for example, are features which we also find in tapestry weaving from South Trøndelag. Has there been a connection here, or is it just a result of both districts depending on models from Gudbrandsdal? 

 

Lastly we will mention a pillow cover from Lomen [Vestre Slidre, Valdres], now at the Norwegian National Folk Museum (484-97), which is entirely unique with its strongly stylized pattern, roses bound with some comb-like ornamentation, which most likely has vines as the original model (fig. 34).  It is probably based on a pattern from nature, but here it is given an almost geometric form and has to that extent adapted itself to the language of textile design.  On the other hand, the colors do not work entirely comfortably with gold, brick red, dark blue and green and some natural black and white.  Both the color selections and the motif’s strong stylization indicate that the pillow cover is probably a later work.  

If we therefore will summarize the conclusion we have reached, after having gone through the essential [works] which survive of tapestry weaving in Valdres, it is that there are not many concrete results we can point to.

But we must in any case be allowed to believe that there has been tapestry weaving in Valdres.  Not all of this can be imported.  For the most part and in any case the same patterns and motifs found in other tapestry weaving districts are also found in Valdres.  The only works which really stand out as a singular group are the 3 dated virgin-design pillow covers (fig. 21, 22 and 23–in Part Three). In addition, the pillow cover with the 10 virgins (fig. 11–in Part Three) stands out amongst our tapestry weavings and can possibly be considered an original Valdres creation.  If we dare believe that the three holy kings tapestry ringed by animals in the Nordiska Museum (see figure X in Part Two)  and the virgins tapestry at Valdres Folk Museum (fig. 9–in Part Three) are created in Valdres, ones which belong to the earliest development of these motifs, the [Valdres] valley must have been involved relatively early, as Kielland says. (Thor B. Kielland: Norwegian Tapestry Weaving 1550-1800, Vol. I, pg. 103.).

Moreover it is of course possible that research with a closer analysis of technical details, materials, etc. can achieve more definite results.

In terms of geography it appears that of the 28 works that have been tied to a particular location [in Valdres], 11 are from Vang, 8 are from Øystre Slidre, 7 are from Vestre Slidre, 1 is from Bagn and 1 is from Hedalen. It is first and foremost the upper districts [in Valdres] which are represented.  Of course, chance could play a part here.  Most of these works now are found in museums and very many of them were acquired by speculative buyers.  They can have concentrated their efforts in the upper districts.  Or is it conceivable that the upper districts did not fall under the influence of urban society and industrialization and preserved their distinctive qualities and their keepsakes from the older culture? One might in any case believe that when the preponderance [of artifacts] is so great for the upper districts that it must rest on something more than an accident.  It also appears that Eilert Sundt [1817-1875, theologian and pioneer in folk life research] as early as 1867 has made the same observation in his book Regarding Home Craft in Norway [Om husfliden i Norge].

Works in other weaving techniques are also preserved in Valdres.  Close to tapestry weaving in choice of motif and pattern are the pillow covers in half-pile [halv-floss] though the technique is entirely different.  And since pile weaving is to a large degree bound to the weave’s structure, it is especially the simpler, geometric designs which are used.  The pattern of the yarn knotted into it stands out in relief against the rep-woven ground fabric.  The technique is for the most part the same as with rya or cut pile rugs except that here the yarn Is knotted in rows the entire width of the weaving with a few shots of ground weft in between.  We have seen in the estate settlements that such rugs have been in use in Valdres, but none of these are preserved.  However there are 8 pillow covers in half-pile from Valdres.  These must be what the estate settlements call “bumpy cushions” [noppete hynder].

A red ground color appears to have been common.  In any case it is found in 5 of these pillow covers.  On a couple of them, heart-like figures are the main motif (fig. 35). 

One from the Norwegian National Folk Museum depicts a double cross , approximately the same design as on the double weave in Ulnes church (fig. 36). It is essentially the same motif which in coverlet [åkle] weaving goes by the name “nine-rose” [nirosen]. 

Highly stylized trees in different shapes are also found on a couple of pieces (fig. 37). 

On a pillow cover from Øystre Slidre in Nordiska Museum [Stockholm] we find a motif that is much used in double weaves from Gudbrandsdal, divided squares with hooks in the corners (fig. 38).  [This is] a pattern which we find on 6 pillow covers in half-pile from Gudbrandsdal but those are without borders, while ours [from Valdres] are surrounded by squares set on end. 

A couple of pillow covers in the County Museum in Skien [now Telemark Museum] look very primitive.  The one has a blue square set on end inside a rectangular area and surrounded by a zig-zag border in blue, yellow and red on a moss-brown ground (fig. 39). 

The other has a delicate pattern with crosses, dots, squares and zig-zag lines in natural black, white and red on a yellow ground (fig. 40).  The ground fabric here is not the usual woven in wool on a linen warp, but instead both the warp and weft are thin wool woven in twill.  I think that the overall effect is remarkably old-fashioned but the pattern is however so simple that it could easily be either an early or later work.

For the most part, the patterns on these pillow covers are so simple that they are almost timeless, so I think we will refrain from any attempt at dating them.  Two of these works are from Bagn, one is from Vestre and one from Øystre Slidre.  The others have not been traced to more precise locations. 

With what we know of the close contact between Valdres and Western Norway, we would expect to find a great many western-style coverlets in Valdres.  Just as [pictorial] tapestry weaving had its center in Gudbrandsdal, the geometrically woven coverlets [ruteåklær] have had their widest dissemination in Western Norway.  However, remarkably, we do not find many such coverlets from Valdres.  Valdres Folk Museum has a few, a severely damaged one is found in Bagn Bygdesamling [South Aurdal] and the County Museum in Skien [Telemark Museum] has a couple of geometically patterned pillow covers, i.e. in rutevev.  A few are also preserved on farms in the area.  The catalog of a textile exhibit at Valdres Folk High School in 1951 mentions some coverlets and pillow covers, but it appear that they were for the most part more recent works, probably the result of weaving courses which were started up at the end of the [19^th] century to revive Norway’s national art weaving.

The coverlet in the Bagn Bygdesamling [local collection now under the umbrella of the Valdres Folk Museum] belongs to a group of coverlets which are very uniform in regard to technique and pattern, and tapestries of this type are widespread over all of Western Norway.  The majority of the rest of the western-style coverlets can, on the other hand, be divided into distinctive local types.  Common for this western group is that they are very painstakingly woven, with almost no mistakes and are identical on the front and back sides.  That is to say they are woven with single interlocking technique where the colors are changed so that no distinct back side is created as in most of the others.  They are also thinner and lighter than the other coverlets because they are woven with thinner yarn, and the warp is also often wool.  The motif is an eight-petaled rose in an octagonal frame, which is often repeated 4 times and arranged in 2 rows, one above the other.  The tapestry in the Bagn Bygdesamling is made with this format but the colors diverge somewhat from the usual.  They are brick red, white and natural black with blue-green frames while the background color is yellow.  Red-violet and brown-gold colors are, however, the most commonly used in the rest of this group.  In addition there is a little peculiarity with this [Bagn] tapestry.  The lowest part of the coverlet is much more uneven and more crudely woven than the rest of the tapestry and it is woven with double interlocking technique.  The uniform appearance and painstaking technique which otherwise characterizes this group indicates, I believe, that we see here a professional weaver or weaving studio, perhaps continuing through several generations.  A couple of the dated [works] show that they span a longer period of time.  It could be that a weaver has traveled around from farm to farm and woven, as we know certain women weavers did in the rural districts of Trøndelag.  Our [Bagn] tapestry which belonged to the Islandsmoen family and perhaps originates from Brøta [farm] in Bagn can therefore possibly have been started by a professional traveling weaver but for some reason been left unfinished in the [upright] loom, and later finished by a more unskilled person at home on the farm.

The coverlets at Valdres Folk Museum are all constructed according to a simple, purely geometric pattern with concentric, stair-stepped squares, one of the oldest compositions we know of.  The size of the squares can vary and sometimes they are extended more in width, but the basic pattern is the same.  One of the coverlets has a somewhat smaller, cramped character which leads one’s thoughts to the Hardanger tapestries (fig. 41).  It appears a bit stark in its colors with a lot of black and white, besides some red, blue, yellow and olive green.  It too is probably a later work. 

Calmer and more muted in color is another, created according to the same pattern, but where the figures are smaller as there are not as many rows with squares within squares (fig. 42). 

This one is mainly red, blue-green, a little blue and white on a yellow ground.  The top and bottom are finished with narrow rows of red and gray on a yellow ground, and broader hatched borders [kerringtenner] and inlayed patterns (fig. 43).  Besides the concentric squares, the top and bottom borders are in zig-zag patterns.  Colors are yellow, red, brown, white, gray and a little blue. 

One coverlet, almost like ours [in Valdres], is found at the Hallingdal Folk Museum.  John Leirhol in Vang [Valdres] also has one that is made with the same design, though the zig-zag borders have disappeared and the square pattern has instead been repeated three times.  The measurements here are the same as for a common coverlet 171 x 128 cm.  What is unusual is that the warp is of wool.  Otherwise, this is the same type of composition that is used on certain Sogn tapestries with division into a number of horizontal borders.  The two pillow covers at the County Museum in Skien [Telemark Museum] and one belonging to John Leirhol are woven in the same simple pattern with stair-stepped squares (fig. 44).

Aside from the two works in the possession of John Leirhol in Vang and the coverlet from Bagn there is no further information about where some of these weavings originate.  The uniform choice of pattern could perhaps indicate that some of this work is woven in Valdres.   But we also must of course figure on importation from Western Norway.  Here again it is difficult to ascertain dates.  Such simple geometric patterns have certainly been used again and again for generations and have belonged to the treasury of textile motifs throughout history.  Perhaps the choice of colors can tell us something.  In Western Norway the preponderance of geometrically woven coverlets appears to have been woven in the 1700s, but continued into the 1800s.

Though the geometrically woven coverlets have not been especially numerous in Valdres, another group of tapestries has on the other hand been very widely found in Valdres, the so-called “christening tapestries”, woven in an overshot technique called skillbragd.  In some parts [of Norway] these tapestries are called Swedish tapestries [svensketepper].  A number of the Swedish tapestries listed in the estate settlements must surely be such tapestries woven in skillbragd, although, as mentioned earlier, they could also have been woven in other techniques.  In the estate settlements they are described as bed clothes, coverlets or tapestries and they were often used as covers [on one side] of sheepskins or pile rugs.  We don’t know when they were first used as christening tapestries [kristnetepper], but the custom is also known in other districts.  Several people in Valdres report that a tapestry like this was hung over the high seat [at table] during Christmas, usually with a special Christmas cloth over it.  It appears that there is nowhere in Norway this was so common as in the northernmost districts of Valdres [Øystre and Vestre Slidre and Vang].  This is certainly not only the result of Swedish import, but because such tapestries were actually woven in the valley.  Eilert Sundt, in his book “Regarding home craft in Norway” of 1867, tells us of two women weavers in Vang, Ambjør Olsdatter Berge and Randi Knutsdatter Gaasedeilden, “both of whom weave for sale over all of Valdres and especially in Sogn the so-called Christian tapestries, a type of tapestry of beautiful weaving which is used to wrap children when they are carried to baptism.”  At the textile exhibition in Valdres in 1951 there were a number of christening tapestries and the names of the weavers were displayed on several of them.

The pattern of these coverlets is fairly uniform.  The ground is commonly of natural [unbleached], handspun linen, woven on two harnesses, and the pattern is formed by loose threads laid in [i.e. overshot] with thin, single strand wool yarn. On some tapestries, the linen can be replaced with cotton.  The most common pattern appears to be a division of the entire piece into quadrangles and rectangles which in turn are divided into squares by a simple twill pattern, small squares on edge [“goose-eye”], pointed oval figures or similar (fig. 45). 

But there are also tapestries with other patterns.  Less common is a tapestry which appears to have a wave-like water pattern, divided into horizontal borders (fig. 46)  

Some rather later examples show the entire piece filled with eight-petaled roses.  One such from Vang is reported to be woven in the 1860s-1870s by Margrethe Tørstad (fig. 47).  The ground of this one is woven in cotton. 

The colors of the weft can vary.  No doubt most common are red, green, natural black, yellow and some blue.  Other colors such as violet and blue-green can appear in some later tapestries.  All are woven in two lengths of approx. 60 cm. wide [and sewn together, side by side.]  The length can vary from about 150 to 170 cm.

On some of these tapestries, a rectangular area in the middle is woven in using lighter shades (fig. 46).  In certain locations tapestries with lighter area such as this are called “mirror coverlets”.  They are known in several parts [of Norway] and also in other techniques, such as double weave.  This “mirror” has been interpreted in different ways.  Originally, this certainly was tied to the use of these tapestries.  In both Sweden and from other parts [of Norway] it is reported that they were used as coffin coverlets, either laid over the coffin or with the coffin set upon them.  In Sweden this “mirror” is in some places called “the minister’s square” [prestrutan] and some believe that the tapestries have been used as table cloths and the square indicates the minister’s place at the table.  Combined use as both coffin coverlets and christening tapestries is also known in some districts here [in Norway.]  Helen Engelstad has suggested in Double Weave in Norway (Dobbeltvev i Norge, 1958) that it was possibly believed that these tapestries had protective power and could shield against evil spirits.  As far as I know, there is no such tradition in Valdres of using these tapestries as coffin coverlets, but there are many reports, on the other hand, that they were hung over the high seat during Christmas.

These skillbragd tapestries appear to be especially in use in the northern part of Valdres.  There they are still found on most of the farms, while they are not common in South Aurdal or Etnedal.  Which of these tapestries are imported and which are woven in the local community is difficult to determine.  For that matter they are too little researched both here [in Norway] and in Sweden.  Date determination is also difficult.  Largely the same patterns have been woven again and again right up to the present day.  Some of the tapestries are said to be from the [19^th] century and certain ones woven in the 1700s, but such dates are often unreliable.  Even how old the skillbragd technique is in Scandinavia has not yet been properly researched.  Here [in Norway] we have a couple of examples of this technique from the 1500s but whether these pieces were made here is uncertain.

“Drill”-patterned coverlets [dreiel in Norwegian, dräll in Swedish] in wool are another category of thin, light coverlets which are very widespread in Valdres, and these too especially in the northern districts.  They are woven of single-ply, thin wool yarn, both in the warp and weft in 3-harness twill and sewn together from two lengths.  Many of them are in very beautiful colors.  Usually they are of somewhat darker shades, as for example black, red and green.  But more multicolored tapestries are also common.   We see the same dreiel patterns as are woven in tablecloths: squares and rectangles put together in different ways.  A certain variation can also be achieved by creating squares with different colors in the warp and the weft. (Fig. 48 and 49)

Such coverlets were often used as the top side of padded bedcovers, and the textile exhibition in Valdres also had a sheepskin backed with a cover in dreiel.   One single time such a textile has been termed “kristneteppe”, so it appears that skillbragd tapestries and dreiel tapestries have in part been interchangeable.  I do not dare say that these tapestries are unique to Valdres.  I have not found them in other places.  In the textile catalog for Valdres, one of these coverlets is listed as coming from “grandmother in Hallingdal,” but such tapestries are in any case not known there today.  It is not easy to say how far back in time we can trace these tapestries.  None are dated.  Most of those existing today are from the end of the [19^th] century.  Some are reported to be from the years 1830-1840, and one particular one from approximately 1740, but it is certainly unknown if this is correct.  In the Valdres estate settlements, certain 3-harness bedcovers are named since the early 1700s.  It is possible they can have been such dreiel coverlets.

We have now gone through the most significant of that which is preserved of old, woven textiles from Valdres, but we have not looked more closely at who created these works.  As mentioned earlier, most of the farms were self-sufficient in regard to common functional textiles, but as Anne Ødegaard says in her book Life and play in Valdres [Liv og leik i Valdres]:  “Coverlet and kristneteppe…only one or two wove” [“Åklæ o kristnetæpe…va de berre ei o an som vov”.]   The somewhat romantic notion that every farm wife of yesteryear was an artist in the loom must now be abandoned.  Just as the rural communities had their specialist craftspeople, so too has the more artistic and complex weaving been the specialty for some.  As we have seen, Eilert Sundt has given us the names of two professional weavers of the [19^th] century, who specialized in weaving skillbragd tapestries.  But most are anonymous today.  Such skill in weaving can possibly have been handed down by women of the same family through several generations.  We know this at any rate from other parts of the country.  Anne Ødegaard also mentions a Berit Christiansdotter Ellestad (1819-1875), who learned to weave at the Eugenia Foundation in the 1830s:  “There are still some of her beautiful coverlets in the area and some by women descendents who have maintained the art of weaving to nearly the same level.”  As mentioned, we must also consider the weavers who traveled around from farm to farm in the same way as the tailors, the cobblers and the baker women in times gone by.  It was often widows or wives from smaller farms who in this way earned necessary income, as Helen Engelstad relates of the conditions in Trøndelag in her book Double Weave in Norway.  But in regard to pictorial tapestry weaving we must figure on dedicated weaving studios.  Just thinking about a tapestry which is approximated 2 meters high, it requires an upright loom in somewhat larger width.  Pictorial tapestries were usually woven from the reverse side with the figures horizontal.  It is always easiest to weave horizontal lines and areas this way.  According to the latest research pictorial tapestry weaving was most likely done on an upright loom with a beam at the top and bottom (Martha Hoffmann: A group of looms in Western Norway), and it was not just anyone who would have had such a loom over 2 meters wide.  We have no trace of such weaving studios in Valdres.  A couple of estate settlements list quite a quantity of yarn and weaving material, but possibly not more than there was use for in a larger traditional household.  The settlement in 1699 of Ole Sivertson, married to Anne Mikkelsdatter, from Kollstad [farm] in Rogne, Øystre Slidre registers 2 “b.-pund” [a bismerpund equaled just under 6 kilograms after 1683] black wool, 14 mrkr. white, 12 mrkr. gray, 18 mrkr. black warp, 4 mrkr. gray warp, 14 mrkr. tow yarn, 6 alen black homespun wool cloth, 21 alen hemp tabby cloth.  [“Merker” pl. of “mark”, unit of weight since Viking times, set to equal 250 grams in 1875 when the metric system adopted in Norway.  Alen was an ancient measure of length, most recently set at 62.75 cm around the same time.]   There is no mention here of Flemish or pictorial tapestry weaving, only “lesnings” and “brøtnings” bed clothes [See definitions in Part One of this article], and some bench cushions and pillows.  On Rudj, a farm in Reinli [South Aurdal], it is mostly hemp and flax that are listed in the settlement from 1707:  1 b.pund hemp, ½ b.pund flax, ½ b.pund homespun wool weft, 1 b.pund and 8 mrkr. wool warp, 6 shocks of hemp, 28 alen black hemp tow yarn.  No Flemish weaving found here either, only bedclothes in 3-harness and “lesnings” weave, 1 dreiel-woven bed curtain with blue flowers and 1 bed blanket with white, blue and red stripes.

The oldest estate settlements do not mention looms, but that must be due to simpler wooden equipment not being registered.  From the end of the 1600s, however, we find them in most of the settlements.  But we don’t see any detailed description of what type of looms these were.  “A loom with all that belongs to it”, “a loom with equipment” are the most common notations.  A couple of times “a rør loom with all related equipment” is listed.  This probably means a flat loom, where “rør” means a reed of cane.  “A couple of old looms” which is found in 2 different estate settlements can possibly indicate an upright [warp-weighted] loom. The low valuation here of 16 skilling and 3 mark, respectively, suggests that these are not two looms but rather that “a couple” refers to the two “upright supports”. It appears in any case that where “a couple” is used in the estate settlements, it does not describe 2 objects of the same type, but 2 like parts of the same object.  Had there been 2 looms spoken of, there would certainly have been termed “tvende.”  [means “two” in Dano-Norwegian]

The wool which is used in these textiles is usually the shiny, fine spælsau wool which gives sheen and life to the old weavings.  But it appears that Valdres has not always had enough wool.  To some extent they have been dependent on import [of wool] from Western Norway.  In [Hermundstad’s] Old Valdres Culture. Family Legacy his source relates: “Wool was expensive.  And it was seldom enough of it. They had to buy a lot from the woolmen who came from the west”.   In contrast, it appears that it was very common to cultivate flax, even on the small tenant farms.  Even sewing thread was spun and plied on the farm until the middle of the [19^th] century.  Perhaps one of the reasons that skillbragd tapestries became so popular in Valdres is that they require relatively little wool.

All things considered we can well say that Valdres offers a richly varied picture of the textile furnishings of former times, all the way from the double weave tapestries of the Middle Ages in Lomen and Ulnes churches to the skillbragd and dreiel tapestries of the [19^th] century.  And when the living room was decorated for celebration with woven tapestries, bench cushions and pillows, these textiles with their gay colors and varying patterns certainly helped give the room color and warmth.    

Editor’s note: Thank you so much to the translator of this significant history, Lisa Torvik. Lisa is not only a talented translator (especially with nynorsk!), but a magnificent weaver, too. We were not able to find good digital museum photos for the examples of kristnetepper noted in the article; most were from private collections. But here is a photo of a traditional Valdres kristneteppe woven by Lisa. 

The first three parts of the “Art Weaving in Valdres” essay were published in 2021. See: “Art Weaving in Valdres: Part One of Four“, and “Art Weaving in Valdres: Part Two of Four“, and “Art Weaving in Valdres–Part Three (Tapestry Cushion Covers).”

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