Antique Russian icon, the Pantocrator XVIII - XIX century

Antique Russian icon, the Pantocrator XVIII - XIX century 36x30cm.
This is among the most famous and known icons: The Christ "Pantokrator", the representation of the maximum glory and power of Christ.
He is depicted in half-length with an intense and expressive face. With his left hand he's holding the open book and with the right one he is blessing the people according to the orthodox-Byzantine rite.
In the Aureola (Nimbus) are represented the typical Greek letters indicating "He who is".
In this type of icon, the iconographer tries to express the ineffable reality of the God, made Man. In all the paintings there is a similarity: the hair is rounded and parted in the centre; the forehead is large and the eyebrows are well marked; the eyes are big, deep and thoughtful, and they are separated by a long nose; the lips are red and closed in a wise silence; the ears are small and they underline the fact that He is listening.
The Gospel book is closed: the icons that depict this type of image are very rare, because the Orthodox church preferred to show the faithful some of the most important quotes for the Christian Liturgy.
A closed book means that the whole Gospel needs to be studied and meditated, and not only the words of one of the Evangelists: there is no salvation of the Soul if we don't have the pages of Mark, John, Luke and Matthew printed in our minds.

Origin: Moscow, Russia
Material: Wood, Levkas
Technique: Egg tempera
Measurements: 36x30 cm
Epoch: XVIII-XIX century.
This icon comes with a certificate of origin and guarantee, together with export documents and the expert report made by the Russian Ministry of Cultural Heritage.