FELON'

Creator(s): Sergei Ivanovich Vashkov (Designer) , P. I. Olovianishnikov synov'ia (Firm)

Currently in storage

About this object

Although the felon' resembles older garments made from a variety of fabrics, the entire felon' (with the exception of the apparels) was woven as a single piece and sewn in the front. The garment's pattern is rendered in multi-colored gold accented with silver, black, and dark blue (the silk chenille). In places, orange silk is visible where the metallic-wrapped threads have broken down. These traces of orange would not have been apparent when the fabric was first woven. The bold pattern is made up of large and highly stylized palmettes, pomegranates, and leaves. The large scale of the pattern recalls the sixteenth and seventeenth-century Italian velvets and Ottoman silks from which older Russian vestments were often made and is most likely meant to evoke these historic prototypes. As is typical of felon'y, there are two wide, apparels (decorative bands) applied. Those on this garment are extremely plain, woven bands of gold. A similar, thinner band is sewn into the hem at the neck and around the bottom. Applied to the back of the garment, as is also typical on a felon', are a large, Latin, or equal-armed cross (near the top) and a large star (near the hem). Both are rendered in heavy stumpwork of gold-wrapped thread. Both forms are generalized and less ornamented than earlier examples in the collection, suggesting an attempt by the designer to match the more modern, stylized forms of the fabric. Of the five silver-gilt, filigree buttons that should have been sewn onto the front of the garment at the edge of the uppermost apparel, only three are now present.

Object name:

FELON'

Made from:

Silk -- cotton -- silk chenille -- gold-wrapped silk thread -- silver-wrapped silk thread -- silver gilt buttons

Made in:

Moscow, Russia

Date made:

1901-1914

Size:

153.7 x 162.6 cm (60 1/2 x 64 in.)

Detailed information for this item

Catalog number:

44.8

Class:

VESTMENT

Signature marks:

inscription 500 Stamped in black ink on rear inside lining at neck inscription N 1728 8 pr Written in purple ink on lining, center back, at hem. Written in Cyrillic cursive. Presumably, these are inventory numbers. inscription Dt Handwritten in blue on lining, center back, at hem. Written in Cyrillic cursive. These letters in a waxy, blue crayon appear on many of the vestments. inscription 11131 komp. N2 Written in Cyrillic in ink on gold silk square sewn in at hem. Komp. = komplekt? In other words, is this the second piece of a set? tag 7 Sewn into hem area on proper right near bottom. According to curatorial records, this tag was extant as late as 1989. It was presumably removed and kept in the textile files. mark

Credit line:

Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973