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KAZAN MOTHER OF GOD

Creator(s): Unknown (Painter) , Unknown (Silversmith)

Currently in storage


About this object

This icon is a copy of a miracle-working icon discovered in Kazan in 1579, soon after Ivan IV, also known as Ivan the Terrible (reigned 1547-1584), took that city from the Asian inhabitants known as the Tartars. In 1612 the icon was credited with helping Russian troops liberate Moscow from Polish occupying forces. To commemorate this event, a church in the icon's honor was erected on Red Square.

The shoulder-length figures of the Mother of God and the Christ Child, his right hand raised in blessing. Her brown maphorion and Christ's chiton are richly ornamented with chrysography. The oklad, venets and tsata are made of pressed metal with a foliate design. The venets and tsata are embellished with seventeen paste (?) cabochons set in clawed, smooth and toothed cages. Two transverse shponki have been inserted in the back, which is covered with a green silk brocade, glued down and much worn.

Object name:
KAZAN MOTHER OF GOD
Made from:
Tempera on wood with gilding -- silver gilt -- and paste gemstones
Made in:
Moscow, Russia
Date made:
17th-mid 17th Century
Size:
33.7 × 26987.5 cm (13 1/4 × 10625 in.)

Detailed information for this item

Catalog number:
54.7
Class:
ICON
Signature marks:
INSCRIPTION; LABEL; STAMP ICON (verso): "B" (cyrillic); "24 (red bordered label); illegible round purple stamp; "7927 uua 10803 700r" (price tag, cyrillic letters); "Mostorg Antikvarno-khudozhestvennyi Otdel No c/03001 Naimenovanie - Bogomater Kazanskaia, Data - 16-17 nachalo, Shkola - Moskva, Razmer - 31 x 26, OKLAD: "oklad serebriannyi s kamniami, Primechanie - Sm c/03001 10207" (in printed and handwritten cyrillic on a label glued to the back); "THIS ICON IS FINE 1985 86" (on masking tape)
Credit line:
Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973