Liturgical embroidery
Embroidery is a form of visual art where fabrics serve as the basis, and colored silk, gold, and silver threads serve as the paint, with a needle as the main tool.
Ecclesiastical embroidery came to Rus at the end of the 10th century with the adoption of Christianity as the state religion and was shaped under the influence of Byzantium, as was icon painting. Unlike ornamental embroidery, ecclesiastical embroidery was dictated by canonical and iconographic frameworks. From the earliest centuries of the spread of Christianity in Rus’, the art of embroidery began to develop in women’s monasteries. The earliest works of the 14th-15th centuries testify to the interaction of Byzantine and Russian masters.
Ecclesiastical embroidery reached its peak in medieval Rus’. During the 14th-17th centuries, when religious ideology dominated, ecclesiastical embroidery became of primary importance. Ecclesiastical embroidery pieces were used to decorate church vessels, clothing for church ministers, veils for icons, covers for altar thrones and the tombs of saints, curtains for royal gates, to decorate solemn ceremonies like banners, shrouds, and accompanying people on long journeys and military campaigns (embroidered iconostases). Embroidered covers and veils usually have a central image (a figure or face of a saint, an evangelical or biblical plot) and borders with similar images and ornamental patterns, but most often with liturgical or inserted inscriptions, which were mostly written in Slavic Vyaz script.
Images of saints and religious plots, executed on smooth and patterned fabric backgrounds with silk and metallic threads, vividly demonstrate the connection between face embroidery and the art of icon painting. On the other hand, materials and techniques that differ from icon painting give embroidery art a unique character, primarily enhancing the decorative qualities of the works.
The Sign of the Virgin Mary. An embroidered icon.
Royal workshops. 1630.
Iconostasis, Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker.
Size: 124 x 66.5 cm.
Century: 17th.
Shroud, Golgotha Cross.
Origin: The shroud over the tomb of Tsarevich Ivan Mikhailovich. The shroud was made in 1639, after the death of the six-year-old son of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. It comes from the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. It was acquired from the Patriarchal Treasury in 1920.
Size: 160 x 90
Theotokos of Fedorovskaya
Size: 79 x 50 (without borders — 65 x 50)
Century: 17th
Shroud. Deposition from the Cross.
Early 15th century. Canvas, silk, gold and silver threads; embroidery
Size: 136 x 183 cm.
Shroud. “Agnus Dei”. Moscow, workshop of Stefaniya Andreevna Godunova, 1599.
Materials: khamka (16th century, Italy), taffeta (16th century, East), silk, spun and twisted silver and gold threads, pearls; weaving, sewing, fringing. 58x58. Dmitry Ivanovich Godunov’s contribution to the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma. Acquired from the Kostroma Regional Museum in 1931.
“Martyr Irina”
A Russian Orthodox embroidery depicting Saint Martyr Irina. Made by the workshop of Irina Godunova in Moscow between 1598–1604.
From the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. Located in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.
Size: 68 x 70.5
Shroud. Miracle of Archangel Michael in Chonech. Sudarium. End of the 15th — beginning of the 16th century. Taffeta, silk, gold and silver threads; embroidery.
Size: 62 x 60 cm
“Christ in the Tomb”. Moscow, workshop of the nun Alexandra (Tsarina Irina Fedorovna) at the Novodevichy Monastery, 1598. Camka (16th century, Italy), silk, silver and gold twisted, drawn and scanned threads, pearls, rubies, emeralds, tourmalines, gold; weaving, sewing, tassel making.
Size: 62 x 82 cm. Donated by the nun Alexandra (Tsarina Irina Fedorovna) to the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Transferred from the Patriarchal Treasury in 1920.
Transformation. Zosima and Savvatiy of Solovki Palitsa. 1658
The palitsa (a detail of the bishop’s vestments) was donated to the Solovetsky Monastery by Anna Ivanovna Stroganova, wife of Dmitry Andreevich Stroganov, on behalf of her underage son Grigory Dmitrievich, as evidenced by the inscription in the lower corner of the center: “CONSTRUCTED BY GRIGORY DMITRIEVICH STROGANOV.”
The Veil. Sergius of Radonezh. The Veil. 1581. Fragment. Kamka, pearls, precious stones, silk, gold and silver threads; sewing. Size: 227 x 107 cm.
Shroud. The Deposition. Shroud. 1561. Canvas (the ancient background on the shroud, kamluk, has survived only fragmentarily), kamluk, silk, gold, silver threads;
Size: 174 x 276 cm.
“Pokrov ‘Metropolitan Peter’ Moscow, workshop of Grand Duchess Solomonia, standard-bearer of the circle of Dionysius, 1512. Atlas (15th century, foreign production), silk fabric (18th century (?), Russia), dyed fabric (16th century (?), Russia), silk, silver and gold thread, pearls, glass, weaving, sewing, and embroidery. 214x104. Grand Duke Vasily III donated to the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Acquired from the Patriarchal treasury in 1920.”
