Cushion Cover

Maria Monaci Gallenga often found inspiration for her fashion and furnishing designs in historic Italian textiles. However, for this velvet pillow cover Gallenga employed the winged globe or sun disk, framed by rearing, protective female cobras, a motif she adapted from Egyptian art. This kind of imagery, included in an influential illustrated survey of Egyptian art and architecture published in 1809, became popular among European and American artists during the 19th and early 20th centuries.