Imperial Russian sailor's cap from Guard's Equipazh

Description

Imperial Russian sailor's cap from Guard's Equipazh
White cotton summer sailor's cap with painted cockade and silk St.George ribbon with gold letters "гвардеиский экипажъ"
The white cotton cap is discoloured with minor stains and wear along cap band, but in remarkably good condition for its age.
In the recently published "Uniform of the Russian Navy 1855-1881"by V.V.Glaskov,(2022) according to the 1874 regulations, the Black Sea, Caspian and Aral Sea flotillas wore a white cotton cap bearing the cockade and ribbon rather than the winter service cap with a white cover, presumably due to the warmer climate of the southern fleets.
Few such examples survive, due to their light construction, especially from the Guard's Equipazh, which was disbanded after 1917.