The podea “Saint Princes of Yaroslavl” was manufactured by the workshop of Anna Ivanovna Stroganova, née Zlobina, wife of the famous Dmitry Andreyevich Stroganov. Her activity marked the most fruitful period in the history of the Stroganov pictorial embroidery.
During that period, the workshop’s gold embroidered products were manufactured in series. One of the series included numerous small podeai with individual and group images of saints. The podea “Saint Princes of Yaroslavl” belongs to this series.
In the cloudy hemisphere at the top of the podea, there is an image of Our Lady of the Sign with the Christ Child. Below Her, there are two arches with praying figures. These include the Saint Prince Theodore of Smolensk with his children David and Constantine, and Basil and Constantine of Yaroslavl.
The Saint Prince Theodore of Smolensk and Yaroslavl (nicknamed Theodore the Black) was born during the difficult period of the Mongol invasion, about 1237–1239. He was baptized under the name Theodore after the Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates who was especially venerated by the Russian warrior princes.
His sons David and Constantine were born in the Golden Horde from his second marriage to the daughter of the powerful Tatar Khan Mengu-Temir. Before marrying him, she converted to Christianity. Their marriage was of great importance to Russia. Prince Theodore used his influence in the Golden Horde for the benefit of the Russian land and the Russian Church.
The Saint Princes Basil and Constantine were sons of Vsevolod Konstantinovich, the first Prince of Yaroslavl. They lived during a difficult time for Russia — at the very beginning of the Mongol invasion. They were famous for the fact that despite all the cruelty and destruction of that period, the brothers did not engage into internecine conflicts and wars with neighboring principalities. They strove to establish peace in the Russian land, restore the destroyed churches, and promote education.
The podea is made in the technique of gold embroidery. The faces and other exposed parts of the body of the Virgin Mary, the Christ Child, and the saints are embroidered with pearl-gray densely twisted silk threads. The facial features are sketched using threads of a darker tone.
The clothes, details of the composition, and the background of the podea are embroidered with spun gold and silver threads using the couching technique. Colorful silk couching threads form geometric patterns which are typical of the Stroganov pictorial embroidery. The clouds and earth are embroidered using the filigree technique.
The background is lingonberry taffeta, and it is uncovered only at the bottom where there is a silver-thread inscription,
