Embroidery and fine embroidery of Chernihiv in the second half of the ХVІІth – early ХVІІІth centuries

A review of the literature showed that Chernihiv’s embroidery and fine embroidery were not specifically considered. The study of embroidery as a craft and art, as well as individual works in connection with other forms of fine arts of that time is particularly relevant to Chernihiv’s example. Drawing on the monuments of art and work of previous researchers, it is necessary to consider this kind of art in historical aspect, materials and techniques of execution, to compare the works with the monuments of contemporary graphics and painting. The base on which the artwork of the following centuries was formed was the art of Kievan Rus. It is established that the general composition of tablecloths of the Skoropadsky family is similar to the compositions of carpets and illustrations of manuscripts and old printed books. The composition of the gold embroidery cover of the wife of the Priluki Colonel G. Halagan is close to the graphic frames of the Ukrainian old printed books. The local origin of the “Half Hollow” shirt, known by the copy of the beginning of the twentieth century, has been found out.
Considerable works of fine arts of haptism, created in Chernihiv, are considered. Among them is the composition of the “Descent of the Holy Spirit” on the face of a felon from the workshop of the Chernihiv Friday Monastery. It is established that such an interpretation of the plot is close to the image only in one story-screen saver illustration in K. Tranquilion-Stavrovetsky’s book “The Gospel of the Teacher” (Univ. 1696). From the workshop of the Pyatnitsky monastery came the epitrachilis of 1713 with the composition “Tree of Jesse” by I. Shchirsky. It has been found out that in the Ukrainian prints such a composition occurs only once – on the title-page of the Lviv Brotherhood’s Charter of Prayer in 1670. The mentioned composition of the gaptu is closer to the type of the graphic work “The Declaration of Kyoto Silver-Plated” in 1695 (engraver I And the royal gates from the tree of the original iconostasis of the Catherine Church of Chernihiv in the early eighteenth century.
It is established that the haptic air of the early eighteenth century. with the composition “Laying on the coffin” is close not only to the printed antimens 1697 (as noted by TV Kara-Vasilyev), but also to other prints from the same board. That is, the prints of 1695, 1714, 1723. The 1735 years could also be models for creators of air. The elite product of the shroud of 1655 is considered – the contribution of Chernihiv Bishop Z. Prokopovych to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, the haptic kibalak day and the saddle. The miraculous icon of Our Lady of the Blessed Virgin on a stick at the beginning of the eighteenth century. It is revealed that this icon was popular not only in Kyiv, where it was located in the Sophia Cathedral, but also in Chernihiv. It is established that in 1655 Y. Galatovsky with a group of monks came to Kiev from Kup’yatich, taking with them the icon. Their graphic reproductions appeared in Chernihiv and Kiev old printed books.
Thus, in the second half of the eighteenth – early eighteenth centuries, Chernihiv became a prominent center of embroidery and fine embroidery. As noted by T.V. Kara-Vasilieva, it was in the work of the Chernihiv craftsmen that a new word was spoken, the Baroque style was initiated, and what helped the activity of the artist and engraver I. Shchirsky. A significant artistic achievement of the Chernihiv craftsmen of this period is a significant contribution to the treasury of Ukrainian art.