Panel for a Headdress

1700–1900

Panel for a Headdress, 1700–1900. Russia, Tambov province. Linen: plain weave; silk: embroidery; overall: 10.5 x 16.2 cm (4 1/8 x 6 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Charla Coatoam 1931.75 This Russian embroidered panel was used to embellish a headdress. Textiles of this type are valuable for their embroidery depicting ancient folk motifs, ritual significance, exemplification of the role of textiles in Russian society, and connection to a prominent woman collector, Natalia de Shabelsky, without whom this textile and others like it might have been lost. Embroidery was a common tradition in many cultures because it displayed the skill of the mother or daughter who stitched the embroidery.