Royal Russian Embroidery

This Russian embroidery was made in the 19th century out of silk and linen. It is decorated with a trident-like background design and a large central Russian coat of arms with a double-headed crowned eagle with larger crown, orb and scepter in its talons.

Smaller cartouches on the wings and chest that represent the other Russian principalities and lands, three subjugated kingdoms and St. George and the dragon, and the other two-headed eagles indicate that this may be official court regalia. The eagle motif is similar to an embroidered coronation canopy of 1896 at the Kremlin. It may be an ecclesiastical piece of fabric.