Icon with a gilded cross about 1820

Staurotheque Icon with Cross, Gilded Bronze
Russia circa 1820

The cross is gilded bronze, with a classical cross in the middle surrounded
by themes of Orthodox Church feast days.

The bronze is preserved in superb quality, as is the entire icon.
The icon frames the cross, with the four Evangelists in halos depicted in the four corners, and the sun and moon on the cross.

The following subjects are depicted from top left to bottom right:

First row
The Descent from the Cross and the Entombment of Christ

Second row
The Washing of Christ's Feet and the Last Supper

Third row
Saints John, Saint Gregory, Saint Simon and Saint Charalampius, Saint Constantine, and Saint Nikita, all saints in the middle.

Fourth Row
The Virgin of the Sign and the Pietà

In the bottom row, an exceptional iconographic element.
The icon painter lets the corpses in their shrouds emerge from the coffins
surrounded by skulls.

The icon is painted in tempera on levka on wood. The state of preservation is superb,
without restoration or repainting.
It was created around 1820.

A collector's item.