Embroidered decoration “The Nativity of Christ” of the second half of the 17th century from the Fund Collection of the National Preserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”

Dear friends!

We present you decoration of a priest’s phelonion with embroidered image of the Nativity of Christ (KPL-T-431, d - 27 cm).

The theme of the Nativity of Christ is one of the favorites in Ukrainian sacred art, especially in icon-painting art. It is also popular in the works of gold embroidery. The scene of the birth of the Son of God is placed in the center of the phelonion decoration, which has the shape of a shining star. The composition of the work is very concise and contains only the key points of the traditional iconography. On both sides of the manger with hay, in which the Infant Christ rests, is depicted the Virgin Mary on a small chair and the righteous Joseph with arms folded. The ray of the Star of Bethlehem falls on the Holy Family from the open sky in the upper part of the composition. An ox and a donkey lie beneath the manger as image-metaphors for Isaiah's prophecy: “The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand” (Is 1: 3).

A characteristic feature of the embroidered composition is the instruments of Christ’s Passion in his hands. Emphasizing the connection between the incarnation of the Son of God and His coming death on the cross is inherent in the texts of the Christmas service, and the sermons. In Byzantine commentaries on the liturgy, this double symbolic meaning is given to different parts of the temple (eg. the apse is symbolizing the cave of Christmas and the coffin) and items (thus, the veils for sacred vessels -symbolize the veil of the newborn Savior and his shroud). The liturgical context of the evangelical event is also emphasized by the round shape of the manger, reminding the discos (a plate used to carry the bread at the Eucharist) and the image of the chessboard floor, as a hint of the sacred space where the Eucharistic sacrifice is offered.

The miniature embroidery is done with amazing skill. Folds of clothing and inscriptions are decorated with small pearls, images of hay and animals are sewn with colored silks. The faces of the characters were originally embroidered, and later, during the renewal of the work, they were painted with oil colours. In 2016, the restoration of the monument was carried out in the Department of Scientific Restoration and Conservation of the Preserve by Volodymyr Nazar, the restorer of fabrics of the highest category.

The text was prepared by Alina Varyvoda.

Captions to the illustrations:
Fig. 1. Embroidered decoration for a priest’s phelonion “The Nativity of Christ”. The second half of the 17th century (KPL-T-431) 
Fig. 2. “The Nativity of Christ”. Fragment