The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 4, 2022

Border

c 1800- 1825

Russia, Nizhny-Novgorod province, early 19th century

Plain weave silk (est.) ground with polychrome silk (est.) and metal thread chain stitch embroidery; applied silk (est.) ribbon and metal thread trims

Overall: 28 x 93 cm (11 x 36 5/8 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1931.137

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Embroidering the ends of everyday towels was a common folk tradition in many cultures because it displayed the skill of the mother or daughter who stitched them.

Description

This Russian embroidered panel was likely used to embellish the end of a bathing towel. Textiles of this type are valuable for their fine embroidery of ancient folk motifs, ritual significance, exemplification of the role of textiles in their society, and in this case, connection to a prominent woman collector, Natalia de Shabelsky, without whom this textile and others like it might have been lost.

Provenance
-1904/5
Collection of Natalia Leonidovna Shabelsky, Moscow, Russia (1841-1904/5), by inheritance to her daughters
1904/5-1931
Princess Alexandre Sidamon-Eristoff and Mlle. N. de Chabelskoy, sold through B.M. Pushkin
1931
Count B. M. Pushkin sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1931-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Citations
Pushkin, B. M, B. M Pushkin, N. de Shabelsky, and N. de Shabelsky. Exhibition of National Russian Art, 17th, 18th and Early 19th Centuries: Peasant Embroideries, Costumes, Headdresses, Hand-Woven Materials, Laces, Ikons, Articles of Silver, Copper, Etc.: Shown by Count and Countess B.m.-Pushkin. Place of publication not identified: publisher not identified, 1900.
Sidamon-Eristoff, V. P., Princess. Sobranīe russkoĭ stariny Kn. V.P. Sidamon-Ėristovoĭ i N.P. Shabelʹskoĭ: vypusk I-ĭ, vyshivki i kruzheva = Antiquités russes, collection princesse Sidamon-Eristoff et Mlle. N. de Schabelskoi. Moskva, 1910.
Holme, Charles, and Studio. Peasant Art in Russia. The Studio, 1912. Special No. London: "The Studio", 1912. p. 3-11
Schwoeffermann, Catherine, Peter Klosky, and Merrill Oliver. Goddesses and Their Offspring: 19th and 20th Century Eastern European Embroideries. Binghamton, N.Y.: Roberson Center for the Arts & Sciences, 1986.
Kelly, Mary B. "Embroidery for the Goddess." Threads Magazine 11 (June/July 1987). p. 26-9
Kelly, Mary B. Goddess Embroideries of Eastern Europe. Winona, MN: Northland Press of Winona, 1989.
Grusman, V. M., Elena Madlevskai︠a︡, and Karina Solovʹeva. Collection Chabelskaya: une Russie fin de siècle: portrait de femmes en costume traditionnel. 2010.
Lovings-Gomez, Lauren. “The Lost Narrative of Natalia Shabelsky’s Collection of Russian Textiles.” In Hidden Stories/Human Lives: Proceedings of the Textile Society of America 17th Biennial Symposium, October 15-17, 2020. UNL Commons. Accessed 10/20/2021 from https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tsaconf/. doi: 10.32873/unl.dc.tsasp.0117 digitalcommons.unl.edu
Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1931.137