Cleveland Museum of Art

Panel with Panthers, Birds, and Floral Motifs

Date

1700s–1800s

Medium

Bleached linen (est.): needle lace, filet/lacis (knotted ground and darned in one and two directions)

Culture

Russia, Nizhniy Novgorod, 1700s-1800s

Department

Textiles

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

In this panel, a pair of panthers, a common motif in Russian textiles, flank a stylized Tree of Life. Two different types of birds fly above the scene. One bird is small, while the other is larger and similar to a peacock. The diamond patterning and geometric motifs throughout this lace are characteristic of Russian “peasant laces.” The Tree of Life, panther, and peacock are all ancient symbolic motifs introduced into lace patterns during the latter eighteenth century.

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