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Accessories

Wool

NO. 31410

Sweden

1'8" X 2'10" (0.51 m x 0.86 m)

$6,800

Available: Shipping As Soon As Tomorrow

Antique 19th Century Swedish Rollakan Tapestry with Geometric Patterns - Rug & Kilim

Handwoven in wool circa 1880-1889, this 2x3 antique Swedish tapestry flatweave is from Rug & Kilim’s collection of classic Scandinavian tapestries and folk art. On the Design: Admirers of the craft will note this work particularly represents early Scandinavian modernist weavings, where the influence from Turkish, Persian, and other Oriental rug and tapestry traditions is especially visible. Beige, navy blue and brick red tones underscore such geometric patterns, with white accents the keen eye will further admire in the many beauties at play. It is an extremely collectible piece of design history as much as a handmade treasure, teeming with rustic, old-world charm and rich beauty of Swedish folk art. Keen eyes for symbolism will further admire the range of motifs at play which underscore the more minimalist Swedish Modern aesthetic, which makes this piece all the more collectible as a foundation of the art in such exceptional condition. This antique design is from a very special collection that Rug & Kilim is proud to unveil—rich works from one of the most important histories of craft, and particularly representative of the works of women weavers that underscores this movement. Condition: This Antique Swedish flatweave further enjoys good condition for its age—intended exclusively for wall-hanging projects.

"Rug & Kilim is my go to resource for rugs. Their selection is wide and deep, and Josh’s eye for antique pieces is extraordinary. I always walk away with great pieces, and they are a pleasure to collaborate with. They’ve been my trusted partner on projects for years."

— Ann Wolf, Wolf Holden Design Studio

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Specifications:

Measurements: 1'8" x 2'10" ( 0.51 m x 0.86 m )
Categories: 19th Century & Earlier, Accessories, Antique, European, Tapestry
Classification: Classic/Traditional, Geometric, Medallion, Swedish/Scandinavian, Tapestry/Textile/Wall Hanging
Material: Wool
Origin: Sweden
SKU: 31410

From The Journal

Stories from the Accessories Collection

Essays, artist dialogues, and provenance notes drawn from Rug & Kilim’s editorial desk.

September 23, 2026

What Makes Tibetan Wool the Gold Standard for Custom Rugs

Every great rug begins long before the loom. It begins on the animal, in the place, in the particular conditions that made the fiber what it is. And among all the wools that have ever been spun into a carpet, few can rival the wool of the Tibetan highlands, a material whose superiority is not a matter of marketing but of altitude, climate, and the unhurried logic of the natural world. The sheep of the Tibetan plateau live at elevations that would defeat most living things, thin air, brutal cold, a growing season measured against a sky closer than it has any right to be. Nature's answer to that severity is the fleece. To survive the plateau, the animal must grow a wool of exceptional density and, crucially, of exceptional lanolin content; the natural oil that coats each fiber, repels water, resists soil, and lends the finished yarn a luster and resilience that lowland wools cannot approach. What is hardship for the animal is a gift to the weaver.

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June 1, 2026

The Layered Home: 5 Ways to Rethink Floor Rugs and Wall Tapestries

The real spatial dimension does not get painted, it gets woven. Begin with hanging a piece such as Signed Vintage Lia Cook Tapestry slightly off-center on one of your main walls. Its intricate Jacquard weave and the friction created between its rayon and linen fibers will require a lot of breathing room, immediately establishing a gravitational pull of the whole room. But to balance this vertical tension, the ground beneath your feet needs to become much more rigorous. With the use of a rigorously beaten warp-faced plane such as cotton Indian Dhurrie or Antique Swedish Röllakan's interlocking tapestry weave, you create a flat but structurally resistant base. A ground made from a rigidly woven material needs to be challenged. The last textural transition will come from placing a Vintage Frazada Kilim with heavy weft interlace across your warp-faced plane. The act of overlapping your heavy weft on a rigorously

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April 28, 2026

How U.S.–Iran Tensions Are Reshaping the World of Fine Rugs: From Safavid Courts to Sanction Regimes

There is a room in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York where a sixteenth-century Persian carpet stops people mid-stride. Because something in the object itself; its scale, its silence, the particular authority of a thing that has already outlasted three empires makes the ordinary pace of a museum visit feel suddenly inappropriate. The Emperor's Carpet, as it is known, was commissioned in Safavid Iran, passed to Peter the Great of Russia, gifted to the Habsburg Emperor Leopold I in 1698, held by the Austrian Imperial House until 1921, acquired by the Met in 1941, and displayed publicly only twice in the following sixty years because its condition was too fragile to risk. It has survived more political systems than any collector alive today will ever witness. It knows something about geopolitics that no sanctions framework, no bilateral negotiation, no executive order has yet managed to articulate.

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March 13, 2025

The Art of Living with Scandinavian Tapestries

The true beauty of Scandinavian tapestries lies not merely in their aesthetic appeal, but in their capacity to transform ordinary spaces into living museums. After dedicating over four decades to building a definitive collection of Nordic textile art, we've witnessed firsthand how these woven narratives can breathe historical depth into contemporary interiors. The tapestry is not mere decoration—it is a document of cultural memory. This philosophy has guided our acquisition strategy, especially of Märta Måås-Fjetterström's pieces. Her revolutionary approach to textile design in the early 20th century marked a pivotal shift away from the heavy German influences that had dominated Scandinavian textile production.

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March 3, 2025

A Collector’s Guide to Antique Swedish Rollakan Tapestries

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. This sentiment evidently resonates deeply when contemplating Swedish Rollakan tapestries. Their beauty is inseparable from their function, their aesthetics from their purpose. The rollakan (or "rolakan") technique emerged from Sweden's rural traditions, primarily in the southern regions of Skåne and Småland during the 17th and 18th centuries. These flat-woven textiles developed as practical responses to the harsh Nordic winters—dense, durable constructions designed to insulate peasant homes against biting cold. Primarily, what distinguishes the rollakan is its distinctive technique. A flat-weave method where weft threads completely cover the warp, creating reversible textiles with identical patterns on both sides.

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July 1, 2022

A Glossary of Handmade Rugs and Kilims: Understanding Terms, Types and Techniques Past and Present

Referring to the art style characterized by using shape and color withdrawn from traditional repetition or realism. Abstract rugs — sometimes referred to as art rugs — capture an expressive nature that reads as a very modern style, though many abstract rugs draw inspiration from works of the same art style in the mid-century. One of the more widely known mid-century lineages of this style is abstract expressionism, named for the literal "expressionists" of the 1950s. Some of the most notable names behind this style include Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. Referring to a lineage of nomadic Persian rugs (sometimes referred to as “Avsar” in the alternate spelling). Afshar rugs hail from the eponymous tribe in the region of Northeastern Iran.

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R&K Image Studio

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The R&K Image Studio is a new visual workspace designed to present the Rug & Kilim collection with clarity, restraint, and precision — in your space or any space you imagine.

This tool allows you to view, refine, and prepare imagery drawn directly from the pieces in our archive. They can be visualized cleanly, isolated thoughtfully, and adjusted for presentations, proposals, and private viewings, without altering the integrity of the original work.

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Accessories

Wool

NO. 31410

Sweden

1'8" X 2'10" (0.51 m x 0.86 m)

$6,800

Available: Shipping as Soon as Tomorrow

Antique 19th Century Swedish Rollakan Tapestry with Geometric Patterns - Rug & Kilim

"It's rare to find a rug company that offers unique antiques, curated with a historical eye. And the best quality customization for anything you might need. All while being treated like family - love those guys."

— Andre Mellone, Studio Mellone

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Specifications:

Measurements: 1'8" x 2'10" ( 0.51 m x 0.86 m )
Categories: 19th Century & Earlier, Accessories, Antique, European, Tapestry
Classification: Classic/Traditional, Geometric, Medallion, Swedish/Scandinavian, Tapestry/Textile/Wall Hanging
Material: Wool
Origin: Sweden
SKU: 31410

Inquire About this Piece

Antique 19th Century Swedish Rollakan Tapestry with Geometric Patterns - Rug & Kilim

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Stories from the Accessories Collection

What Makes Tibetan Wool the Gold Standard for Custom Rugs

The Layered Home: 5 Ways to Rethink Floor Rugs and Wall Tapestries

How U.S.–Iran Tensions Are Reshaping the World of Fine Rugs: From Safavid Courts to Sanction Regimes

The Art of Living with Scandinavian Tapestries

A Collector’s Guide to Antique Swedish Rollakan Tapestries

A Glossary of Handmade Rugs and Kilims: Understanding Terms, Types and Techniques Past and Present

R&K Image Studio

Antique 19th Century Swedish Rollakan Tapestry with Geometric Patterns - Rug & Kilim

Specifications:

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