Inside cover:
The gold church embroideries of Byzantium, which are the counterparts of the great medieval vestments of western Europe, are little known outside the domain of the Orthodox church. Yet they provided the models for a tradition of church embroidery which survived the Turkish conquest and continued to flourish as late as the nineteenth century.
This book discusses the relationship of these embroideries with the major arts of Byzantium, their role in the celebration of the Orthodox Liturgy, and the iconographic signifìcance of their decoration. The techniques of the Byzantine period are explained and compared with contemporary practice in the west, as well as with later methods in the Orthodox church. The effect of historical events on their development and the changes in design which modified the traditional forms over the centuries are also considered, as well as the work of some known designers.
Finally the chief surviving examples of this art are listed and analysed and many of them illustrated, both generally and in detail.

Contents:
page V Acknowledgemets
VII Introduction
1 I. THE BYZANTINE BACKGROUND
7 II. TEXTILES AND EMBROIDERY
12 III. VESTMENTS
13 The Hierarchical Vestments
16 The Priestly Insignia
19 The Liturgical Vestments
27 IV. ICONOGRAPHY
41 V. ORNAMENT
49 VI. INSCRIPTIONS
57 VII. WORKERS AND WORKROOMS
65 VIII. TECHNIQUE
74 IX. EMBROIDERY AND HISTORY
74 Byzantium and Serbia
82 The Rumanian Principalities
91 The Turkish Period
94 X. THE PIECES ILLUSTRATED
129 Appendix I. Short List of Vestments
131 Appendix II. The Alphabet
132 Bibliography
136 Index