Kurbits

A painting with kurbits ornamentation, by Winter Carl Hansson from 1799

The kurbits is an invented, fantastical symbol of vegetal fertility based on a gourd or pumpkin of biblical legend, principally used for ornamentation in Swedish folk art and on painted furniture and domestic objects. Very popular between 1720 and 1870, particularly in Dalarna and southern Norrland, the paintings and murals have mostly biblical motifs, such as "The Triumphant Entry of the Queen of Sheba Into Jerusalem", and the people and buildings depicted are as was locally fashionable at the time of painting. They were done by itinerant painters, mainly from Dalarna, who specialized in the style and whose signatures are to be found in many localities.

A Dalecarlian horse, from 1950, painted in the kurbits style

Today it is still used for decorating tourist memorabilia from Dalarna.