Among the variety of types of hand embroidery, which Ukrainian women have mastered since ancient times, there is one whose beauty and richness was compared to the morning rays of the sun. This is embroidery, or gold embroidery - embroidery with gold, silver and silk threads.
In Kievan Rus, embroidery has been known since the 9th century. Remains of things embroidered with gold and silver were found in the Kiev St. Sophia Cathedral, in Pereyaslav, Halych, Chernihiv, etc. This technique is mentioned in the chronicles, it is present on the clothes of saints in the paintings of churches. However, as excavations show, this embroidery has much older roots, it was used by Scythian and Sarmatian craftsmen. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that the history of the emergence and development of this bright and original embroidery is one of the oldest.
Liturgical embroidery
In Kievan Rus, embroidery became widespread with the adoption of Christianity. Along with the new religion, the customs of richly decorating Orthodox churches with precious fabrics were borrowed, which created an atmosphere of majestic festivity, solemnity, and luxury. Thus, embroidery with gold and silver became predominantly church embroidery. Embroidered fabrics decorated altars, shrouds, banners, and the clothing of clergy.
Fabrics for sewing (brocade, silk, gold-woven products) were initially brought from Eastern countries and Western Europe. However, later they began to be replaced by products created by local craftsmen, who very quickly mastered the technique of embroidery and the manufacture of church decorations. Workshops were created at monasteries, in which carefully selected embroiderers were taught the intricacies of this complex and perfect technique.
The main motifs of gold embroidery were biblical subjects, faces of saints (so-called facial embroidery), religious motifs, images of amazing birds and animals. Geometric, plant, animal elements were embroidered, such as stars, shamrocks, grapes, flowers, leaves, griffins, lions, dragons (ornamental embroidery). To enhance the effect of luxury and wealth, precious stones and pearls were added to gold embroidery.
Embroidery was also popular in princely families, where women not only embroidered with gold themselves, but even created workshops, attracting the best craftsmen to join them. Thus, gold embroidery spread from a purely ecclesiastical sphere to secular life, becoming a precious decoration of princely and boyar clothing.
After long-term historical upheavals, the lost but not forgotten traditions of the art of embroidery were revived in church decoration in the 14th-17th centuries. In nunneries, which became centers of education and culture, talented female embroiderers created precious embroidered masterpieces commissioned by Ukrainian churches and monasteries, including the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. It was at this time that embroidery became a prominent phenomenon of our national culture.
And again, gradually, gold embroidery, gaining fame, becomes a separate art form. Many museums in Ukraine exhibit embroidered products created in the 18th-19th centuries. Historical portraits, landscape and architectural scenes, embroidered household items, made in the Baroque style, attract attention with their multi-colored range, sophistication and craftsmanship.
The art of gold embroidery
Gold embroidery is a difficult, long, and painstaking work that required patience, knowledge, skills, and great craftsmanship.
Embroidery using the technique imitated weaving. Thin metal wires were wrapped around yellow threads, imitating gold, or white, making them look like silver, and sewn to the fabric with silk threads in small, barely noticeable stitches. The threads were attached tightly to each other in different directions, turning the fabric into a continuous, ornamented, shiny canvas that looked like woven fabric. The finished work was one-sided, because it was impossible to pierce the fabric with metal threads through, as in ordinary embroidery.
To achieve the effect of color overflow in embroidery, “skany threads” were made – gold threads were wrapped around red, pink, black or green silk threads, and silver threads around blue ones. Products embroidered with such threads turned out to be surprisingly beautiful and exquisite.
Often, craftsmen tried to make the embroidery embossed, to give it volume and texture. To do this, they used various additional soft or hard materials (cardboard, cotton wool, ribbons, cords), which were placed under the main threads.
The fabric for embroidery was chosen depending on the idea of the future embroidery. If for a fully embroidered product the base differed only in the thickness of the threads, then when embroidering individual ornaments, the fabric, part of which was visible between the stitches, was chosen according to its texture and color (silk, velvet, brocade).
Nowadays, embroidery, thanks to a variety of modern fabrics, sewing materials, and threads that imitate gold and silver, is becoming increasingly popular among needlewomen.
Gold embroidery is often found on clothing, shoes, accessories, and interior design. It has also found its place on the catwalk and in designer collections.
The art of embroidery has experienced ups and downs at different times. Today, when Ukraine is going through a stage of strengthening its statehood, reviving its cultural traditions, and returning to faith, the combination of centuries-old traditions and the skill of generations gives embroidered products uniqueness, solemnity, and grandeur.
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