Pouch

Unknown

early 18th century · silk, metal, pearls · Costume Institute

This object is from the collection of Natalia de Shabelsky (1841-1905), a Russian noblewoman compelled to preserve what she perceived as the vanishing folk art traditions of her native country. Traveling extensively throughout Great Russia, she collected many fine examples of textile art of the wealthy peasant class. From the 1870s until moving to France in 1902, Shabelsky amassed a large collection of intricately embroidered hand-woven household textiles and opulent festival garments with rich decoration and elaborate motifs. The Brooklyn Museum holdings include many fine examples including the majority of the garments. Portions of Shabelsky's collection are also housed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Cleveland Art Museum, and the Russian Museum of Ethnography in St. Petersburg. Depictions of the goddess are common in Russian embroidery, traditionally associated with fertility. Later depictions of the goddess are very stylized, resembling a plant or tree-of life. The figure is commonly depicted with upraised arms, holding flowers or birds in her hands, and wearing a floral headdress. The shape of the plant on this bag as well as the presence of birds suggests that it is a filtered version of the goddess figure.

Artist

Unknown

Date

early 18th century

Medium

silk, metal, pearls

Culture

Russian

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mrs. Edward S. Harkness in memory of her mother, Elizabeth Greenman Stillman, 1931