Icons

A rare travelling folding iconostasis consisting of fifteen panels (sale 189, lot 311)

The central panel one twice the size of the others. Tempera on wood. The upper part of the panels in the shape of onion domes. The central panel showing a royal door depicting the four Evangelists, the Annunciation and the Last Supper. Above this scene the two major feasts (the Cruxification and the Descent of Christ into hell). In the middle the Lord of Sabaoth flanked by the Kings David and Salomon. The scenes of the fourteen panels grouped over five rows. The top rank portraying Old Testament prophets. The second register showing the twelfe Apostles and St. Antoni and Feodosi. The third row showing selected saints in full-length. The fourth register is representing the major feasts of the Ecclesiastical calendar. The lower row depicting an extended Deisis with the Mother of God and St. John the Baptist in three-quarter view flanked by the Archangels Gabriel and Michael, the Three Hierarchs, Metropolitans and Bishops waering liturgical garments and the monastic saints Zosima and Savatii. Russia, probably Vetka, mid 19th century. 52,5 x 135 cm; 52,5 x 17 cm (central panel); 52,5 x 8,3 cm (side panels). This is an unique example of a complete multipartite travelling iconostasis.