Featured Old embroidered black and white textile - Swedish? Russian?

Looks Mexican to me but I am not good with textiles. I love it!!!

 

With that tail, I think foxes. Quite a nice piece of work.

 

I'm wondering if the birds with the top feathers are quail. Quail have one top feather like that, but this may be artistic license to put two. I'm thinking if you figure out the critters that will lead you to the country. I picked up an embroidered belt, while in Peru. Not an antique. It has local birds and animals as the motifs.

 

Beautiful! Maybe mayan symbols? Does look like a fox.

 

It has double headed birds/eagles as well, so we are looking at a region or country that has a double headed eagle as a symbol. Which is most of Europe, and no doubt it traveled to the Americas as well.
Just one example of many, the coat of arms of Toledo, Spain:

 

I'm thinking the white side is the top side. While not as dramatic as the black side, the stitching is evident on the black side.

Agree with AJ. The eagles are a symbol.

 

How heavy is it. Light like a shawl?

 

The fifth row down has a motif like a symbol too, I think. At first, I was thinking a cat, but it is a mammal with a beak.

 

It is really lovely. I wonder if @evelyb30 would also have ideas.

 

I can't quite tell from your photos, but are there any selvage edges, or are all four sides hemmed? It looks to me like it may be cut from a larger piece of cloth. It also looks like the design may have been created during the weaving process (using supplementary wefts), rather than embroidered after the fact.

 

I think I've seen similar Hungarian things?

or Romanian?

 

Hi, am new to the board, great seeing so much activity! With a small background in textiles from different cultures I'd like to offer my view: I totally agree with 2manybooks that this most likely is a piece cut from a longer cloth. Also, that very obviously it is not embroidered but the design woven with supplementary wefts like rugs.

The fabric is likely a fairly coarse linen to allow for such a heavy weave, and, yes, the front is definitely the white design on black.

The motifs are romantic, patriotic and religious: The two birds facing each other with a flower between them speaks to romance, the joining of a couple. The little fox or dog is an animal perhaps used in hunting, thus symbolizes food, abundance, survival, faith in the future. The double-headed eagle is a stylized version of the ruler's emblem, a humble nod to the country's authority, i e patriotism. The repeated birds, similar but not alike - see last. second and third bird row from bottom - are all different from the top pair of birds and may symbolize fecundity, offspring, a large family.

In a leap of imagination, I believe this cloth was once very long (see cut side on right)and may have been attached to or draped around the top of a bed canapy for a bridal couple's first night.

As to country of origin I can confirm that it definitely is NOT Scandinavian. I am a native Swede so trust me on this one.

I guess that most likely it was woven in a country where Catholicism or Orthodoxy was/is the prevailing religion, such as around the Mediterranean, including France. Of course, let us not leave out Russia, Austria, Germany, Poland or the Baltic countries, or any of the former countries in regions where faith played a big role in folk traditions. Especially where very serious nuptial traditions were observed, maybe even today. I likewise do not exclude any South American or island countries where very old nuptial traditions are strong.

If the home where this cloth was found once held to such traditions the lady who so lovingly preserved it may have wanted to keep this little piece as a special memento of her own marriage.

 

I do think it is embroidered, the black thread is so much thicker than the linen waving, plus, the close up pics show irregulatities in spacing of the stitches

Wonderful piece!

 

@ kyratango: Unless I see it in person I'll reserve opinion as to whether embroidered or woven. However, in old woven and loomed wall hangings and rugs the weft is very often of a different material yarn/thread than the warp. Note the silk weavings onto wool rugs, kilims. That the individual details vary slightly in execution is not only common but expected as this is how we distinguish a handwoven/loomed piece from a machinemade one with its perfectly executed pattern details. Will the owner of this fine cloth weigh in on this with an opinion? Embroidered or woven?

 

Welcome @lizjewel , good to have you on board.
I keep thinking Balkans, but I could be wrong.
If it is, it could be Albania, where the double headed eagle symbol is even more prevalent than for instance Serbia or Montenegro, two other 'double headed eagle countries'. The Albanian eagle is not crowned and has no other regalia either.

 

They look like cats to me.

 

In satin stitch, the decorative thread covers the same area on top and bottom. In this fabric, it looks like in most places it's the opposite... in the places where the thread is on top of the fabric, there's no thread underneath.

Based on the photos, it looks to me like each decorative thread runs through the whole length, weaving in and out of the base fabric.