Dormition of the Theotokos

This curtain or altar cloth shows the Dormition of the Theotokos (Falling Asleep of the Mother of God), which is celebrated by the Orthodox Christian Church on August 15 (Gregorian calendar) or August 28 (Julian calendar). Mary, the Mother of God, is appears in death, surrounded by the Holy Apostles and a host of angels. Behind her stands Christ, who has received her soul in the form of an infant. According to a Greek inscription on the front of the textile, the work was embroidered by a monk whose work is consistent with what was produced by the post-Byzantine Constantinopolitan school of embroidery.