Shadows Forgot Brooch

The brooch was modeled on a small late-eighteenth-century tapestry. Carpets from the Poltava region are easily recognized by their floral ornament. They were very expensive because they were woven using the comb technique. This technique was time-consuming but made it possible to create highly complex and detailed designs. Today, a carpet-weaving center that has existed since Cossack times remains in the village of Reshetylivka. The National Museum of the History of Ukraine even preserves a carpet from 1734 that was used in the burial of the Ukrainian hetman Danylo Apostol.
A characteristic feature of this region’s carpets is their plant-based ornament, which is either monochrome or uses various shades of one color. Sometimes the ornament includes stylized images of birds among branches and bouquets of flowers.

A Reshetylivka carpet made by Nadiia Babenko in 1968 is held in the foyer of the United Nations Headquarters, while a carpet by Leonid Tovstukha has been displayed in the Council of Europe chamber in Strasbourg since 2005.