Headdress
Unknown Artist
19th century
Medium
silk, metal, mother-of-pearl, pearl
Classification
Headdress
Culture
Russian
Department
Costume Institute
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
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
Accession Number
2009.300.1104
Art Historical Context
This exquisite 19th-century Russianaddress, crafted from luxurious silk, metal, mother-of-pearl and pearls, exemplifies the opulence of Imperial Russian fashion. Adorning the head of elite women during formal occasions, such pieces were status symbols, blending European influences with Slavic traditions. The unknown artist's masterful use of these materials—pearls for their luminous glow, mother-of-pearl for iridescent sheen, and for intricate filigree—highlights the era's skilled embroidery and jewelry techniques, often produced in workshops for the nobility. In the context of 19th-century R...