The podea “St. Cyril of Beloozero” was manufactured by the gold embroidery workshop of Anna Ivanovna Stroganova, née Zlobina, wife of Dmitry Andreyevich Stroganov. Her name is associated with the heyday of Stroganov’s pictorial embroidery.
During the period when Anna Stroganova was in charge of the workshop, its embroidered products were manufactured in series. One of the series included numerous small podeai with individual and group images of saints. On feast days, such podeai were hung at the foot of the corresponding feast icons. The podea “St. Cyril of Beloozero” belongs to this series.
The saint is embroidered in full height in the centerpiece of the podea. The earth is conventionally depicted using filigree — silk thread twisted with gold thread. A large floral pattern is embroidered on the silver background using gold threads.
The border of the podea is sewn using red satin. The upper segment of the border features a rectangular frame with the image of Our Lady of the Sign. The Virgin Mary is depicted with Her hands raised in the orans position (which means “praying” in Latin). This was one of the main types of depicting the Virgin Mary where She is shown with Her hands outraised, palms upward, in the traditional gesture of intercessory prayer, and with the image of the Christ Child upon Her breast.
The faces, hands, and other exposed parts of the body are embroidered with tightly twisted silk threads of pearl gray, and the hair — with threads of a slightly darker shade of gray. The facial features are sketched using a grayish-brown tone.
The clothes and other details of the composition are embroidered with spun gold and silver threads using the couching technique. Metal threads were applied onto the surface of the fabric in dense parallel rows and attached in certain areas using an additional thin couching thread. Bright silk threads form geometric patterns.
The border features a
calligraphic inscription of the troparion to St. Cyril of Beloozero made using
silver threads,
