This object is from the collection of Natalia de Shabelsky (1841-1905), a Russian noblewoman compelled to preserve what she perceived as the vanishing folk art traditions of her native country. Traveling extensively throughout Great Russia, she collected many fine examples of textile art of the wealthy peasant class. From the 1870s until moving to France in 1902, Shabelsky amassed a large collection of intricately embroidered hand-woven household textiles and opulent festival garments with rich decoration and elaborate motifs. The Brooklyn Museum holdings include many fine examples including the majority of the garments. Portions of Shabelsky’s collection are also housed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Cleveland Art Museum, and the Russian Museum of Ethnography in St. Petersburg.

Towels such as these were used for ceremonial as well as decorative purposes. In wedding ceremonies the length of the towel was used to bind the couple together, both literally and figuratively. This towel features a unique and endearing depiction of the tree of life. The presence of birds, acolytes of the great goddess in the Russian design vocabulary are indicative of the relationship between goddess and tree of life motifs.