Ribbons for the Crown
Шенкурский уезд, Архангельская губерния. Late XVIII — early XIX century
- Brocade, silk, gold embroidery. 66,0 х 37,2
- Тк-1146
Пост. из музея ОПХ
Headdresses of brides from Shenkursk — the gorodchaty crowns — have unusual edges shaped like crystals or enormous snowflakes. They are solid, made from glued cardboard, with a ring around the base, covered with silver embroidery so that the patterns shine like polished metal. Important to this headdress are the wide brocade ribbons at the back, with gold embroidery and lace, the embroidered diamond shapes hung on silk ribbons and the elegant fringe. As ethnographers have noted, these ribbons were called khlobysten. (Molotova 1978, 227–229).
There are two of these unique Shenkursk crowns with khlobystens in the Russian Museum’s collection. The brocade and silk which the ribbons are made of is typical for the 18th century. The printed cloth which the ribbons are stitched to at the back was also made in the late 18th — early 19th centuries.