Vital and vibrant, this wondrous antique embroidered textile from Greece is alive with the cultural richness of folk-art traditions from a country famous for its illustrious civilizations and artisans. It has a linen foundation with wool embroidery. Sophisticated repeating figures and creative crewelwork designs create a stunning mutable pattern divided into directional segments that face a distinctive focal point. Mythical gryphons give way to a forest of meandering grapevines with leafy ornaments. Dramatic stags and geometric animals follow the botanical ornaments and lead to a series of colorful horses and riders that are followed by dancing people. Compound ram’s horns, which resemble recurving leaflets, and lozenge-shaped burdock symbols that become geometric flowers fill the decorative borders while hinting at the ancient origins of these familiar motifs that are part of a universal design language.