Patterned Silk Weaving in Ancient Times
A Study of Some Silks from Central-Asia Found in the Viking Area.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7577/formakademisk.4208Keywords:
Samitum, Vertical loom, Patterned Silk, Silk, Viking AgeAbstract
Patterned silks came to Scandinavia as small pieces of reused material, but they were still valuable for the Vikings to have been used as trimmings on their garments. In over a millennium, the weave structure of samitum in these fragments was used in all patterned silk. In the medieval it was displaced in favor for other structures. It has lapsed into obscurity for weavers today.
For several reasons the study of these silks has been difficult. The fragments are fragile. They were not made in Norway. Few have mastered this weaving technique.
Is it possible to reconstruct these ancient silks, based on the knowledge gained from studying historical silks and experience acquired from using the structure in modern textiles? This article is about my attempt to do so, and also my reflections of the possible longtime impact on these silks on the weaving tradition in Norway.
References
Becker, J. (1987). Pattern and loom. Rhodos International Publishers. http://donwagner.dk/Pattern-and-Loom.pdf
Bugge, A. (1970). Tekstilfunn i Flåm kirke. In Fortidsminneforeningens årbok 1970 (pp. 75-84). Foreningen til norske Fortidsminnesmerkes Bevaring.
Crowfoot, E., Pritchard, F. & Stainiland, K. (2001). Textiles and Clothing 1150-1450. (2. Edition). Boydell press.
Engelstad, H. (1952). Refil, Bunad og tjeld. (Fortidskunst i Norges bygder 11). Gyldendals forlag. https://www.nb.no/items/7af416966153d9213bd51ef2d5779576?page=57&searchText=Refil,%20buna d%20og%20tjeld
Eriksen, Å. (2017). Med silke til Valhall. In Viking, Norsk Arkeologisk årbok 2017. Norwegian Archaeological Society 2017, (pp. 39-85). https://doi.org/10.5617/viking.5471 https://doi.org/10.5617/viking.5471
Eriksen. Å. (2014) Samitum [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeFN_ScbLFU
Eriksen. Å. (2015) Silkfabric from the Oseberg burial. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkO9sh6bHzs
Geijer, A. (2006). Ur textilkonstens historia. (4. Edition). Gidlunds Förlag.
Hansen, V. (1992). Kuber och Blixtar. Institutet för Kulturforskning.
Hoskins, N. A. (2003). Technology and Tapestry in the Coptic Period. Medieval Textiles. (35), 1-10. https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/webdocs/mnm_mt35.pdf
Hougen, B. (2006). Billedvev, In A.E. Christensen & M. Nockert (Eds.), Osebergfunnet (bind IV, Tekstilene). Kulturhistorisk Museum, Universitetet i Oslo.
Krafft, S. (1955). Fra Osebergfunnets tekstiler. Fragmenter av billedvev og silketekstiler med rekonstruerte mønstre. Dreyers forlag. https://www.nb.no/items/54b0a7cd94a514e425cf61ec0c9dd02d?page=0&searchText=Sofie%20Krafft
Nockert, M. (1984). Mässhakan från Röldal, In T. Gjerdi, A. Kjellberg & G. AA. Rosander. By og bygd, Festskrift til Marta Hoffmann. Norsk folkemuseums årbok 1983-84 (Bind xxx)(pp. 195-200). Norsk folkemuseum. https://www.nb.no/items/a27bef4e3321b3463cbbce251bc42cbd?page=0&searchText=Festskrift%20til%20marta%20Hoffmann
Nockert, M. (2006). Siden. In A. E. Christensen & M. Nockert. Osebergfunnet (bind IV, Tekstilene). (pp. 277-337). Kulturhistorisk Museum, Universitetet i Oslo.
Sheng, A. (2020). Reading Textiles, Transmission and Technology of Silk Road Textiles in the First Millennium. In Harris, J (Ed). A Companion to Textiles. (pp. 109-126). John Wiley & son. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118768730.ch6 https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118768730.ch6
Sheng, A. (2017). Chinese silks that circulated among people north and west: implications for technological excange in early times. In B. Hildebrandt with C. Gillis. (Eds.). Silk. (pp. 104-123). Oxbow Books. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvh1dsv4.12 https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvh1dsv4.12
Sjøvold, Aa. B. (1983). Norsk Billedvev (3. Edition). Huitfeldt Forlag. https://www.nb.no/items/43273ce12c05440e51991ddd031a0b45?page=0&searchText=Aase%20Bay% 20sj%C3%B8vold
Sylvan, V. & Geijer, A. (1931). Siden och Brokader. Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur.
Vedeler, M. (2019). Oseberg de gåtefulle billedvevene. Scandinavian Academic Press.
Vedeler, M. (2014). Silks for the Vikings. (Ancient textiles series, vol. 15). Oxbow books. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvh1dtt3 https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvh1dtt3
Wang, M. (1983). Ruteåkler. Universitetet I Bergen.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Åse Eriksen
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
- The author(s) must manage their economic reproduction rights to any third party.
- The journal makes no financial or other compensation for submissions, unless a separate agreement regarding this matter has been made with the author(s).
- The journal is obliged to archive the manuscript (including metadata) in its originally published digital form for at least a suitable amount of time in which the manuscript can be accessed via a long-term archive for digital material, such as in the Norwegian universities’ institutional archives within the framework of the NORA partnership.
Readers of the journal can print out the published manuscripts under the same conditions as apply to the reproduction of physical copies.
Cited by
