Russian quadripartite icon, 19th century, 12x10 in
Russian quadripartite icon, 19th century, 12x10 in.
Russian quadripartite icon depicting four celebrated images of the Mother of God from the Orthodox tradition: Our Lady of Kazan, the Burning Bush, Panagia Pantenassa (All‑Praised), and Our Lady of Vladimir.
This composition brings together on a single panel some of the most venerated Marian representations in Russian spirituality, each bearing strong theological and devotional significance.
Our Lady of Kazan is among Russia’s most important icons ...
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Russian quadripartite icon, 19th century, 12x10 in.
Russian quadripartite icon depicting four celebrated images of the Mother of God from the Orthodox tradition: Our Lady of Kazan, the Burning Bush, Panagia Pantenassa (All‑Praised), and Our Lady of Vladimir.
This composition brings together on a single panel some of the most venerated Marian representations in Russian spirituality, each bearing strong theological and devotional significance.
Our Lady of Kazan is among Russia’s most important icons and was long regarded as protector of the Russian people and of the Romanov dynasty. According to tradition, in 1612 she accompanied the forces of Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky in the liberation of Moscow from Polish occupation.
The Burning Bush icon recalls the biblical episode in Exodus when Moses sees the bush that burns without being consumed. In Christian interpretation this image prefigures the Incarnation: Mary, like the bush, receives the divine presence without being consumed by the fire of divinity.
Panagia Pantenassa (All‑Praised) derives from ancient liturgical hymns to the Virgin. Popular from the 17th century onward, this type usually shows the Virgin half‑length with the Child and evokes the hymn of praise addressed to the Mother of God in the Orthodox liturgical tradition.
Our Lady of Vladimir is one of Orthodoxy’s most famous icons. Brought from Constantinople to Kiev in the 12th century and later to Vladimir and Moscow, she was venerated as protector of Russia. She belongs to the Eleousa (Tenderness) type, where the Child’s cheek rests against the Mother’s, symbolising the union of the divine and the human.
The icon is executed on an antique wooden panel prepared with levkas and hand‑painted in egg tempera following the Russian iconographic tradition.
Supplied with an expert appraisal and presented in an elegant blue velvet case.
Provenance: Moscow, Russia.
Technique: egg tempera.
Materials: wooden panel prepared with levkas.
Dimensions: 12.3x10.3 in.
Period: late 19th – early 20th century.