Artisan working for empress (7)
I believe the answer is:
tsarina
'for empress' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'artisan working' is the wordplay.
'working' is an anagram indicator.
'artisan' anagrammed gives 'TSARINA'.
(Other definitions for tsarina that I've seen before include "Russian royal; Sinatra (anag.)" , "Wife of royal Russian" , "Wife of former Russian ruler" , "Russian noblewoman" , "Foreign ruler" .)