Perforated floral ornaments of various sizes are arranged on a gold-leaf covered silver background; the floral ornaments are borrowed from Ottoman art, and the perforations create the spaces for the inlay of large red stones. The translucent green and opaque white enamels that encase them are applied with bold brushstrokes. The combination of enamels with inlaid stones is a technique that originated in the major urban centers of Western Europe, and was also highly prized in the gold-embroidery tradition of Constantinople, during the second half of the seventeenth century. This technique was used in jewelry, military armor, and horse tack, intended for special occasions, emblems of the highest orders of the Orthodox clergy, and secular coats of arms, such as those of the Tsar of Russia.
