Antique Kokoshnik Theater Headdress

The item that we are selling is a very special and unusual antique Kokoshnik that is fully embroidered with antique hollow glass pearls and beautiful colored stones. Both in settings and patterns.
Russian girls and women wear the kokoshnik with the sarafan as a traditional headdress. In the ancient Russian city of Veliky Novgorod, the kokoshnik tradition dates back to the 10th century.
From the 16th to the 19th centuries, it was primarily popular in northern regions of Russia. It is still to this day an important feature of Russian dance ensembles and folk culture and inspired the Kokoshnik style of architecture.
The word kokoshnik first appears in 16th-century documents, and comes from the Old Slavic kokoshnik, which means "hen" or "cockerel". However, the earliest head-dress pieces of a similar type (rigid cylindrical hats that completely covered the hair) were found in the 10th- to 12th-century burials in Veliky Novgorod.
Despite being from the late 1800s and in good condition for its age, the Kokoshnik has a veil and some sort of elastic band that may have been replaced later, these headdresses were very exclusive and originally hard to find nowadays.
A truly unique item for collectors or museums, this headdress can still be worn with care.