Featured Russian silver icon

It might be noted that there is an Estonian Orthodox church, and their icons would look like this. Now affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church, but I'm not sure what their status was at the time this was purchased.

 

Thankyou for all your advice , I will certainly check the website out . I’m over in the uk .quite apt that I should inherit it as st George is the patron saint of England ...!!!!

 

That’s so interesting Thankyou , I shall look into this !

 

Thankyou for replying and the advice . I have thought about taking the front off but refrained as I was worried I may damage it . I can’t seem to find a makers mark , the icon could do with a clean around the edges as it is quite black . .
Thankyou once again

 

LOL, yeah, you gotta be careful with dragons!

 

It probably should not be taken apart, and it is unlikely there is anything informative inside.

 

One for almost Anyone’s pocketbook!!!!!!!

 

Agree. Many icons with rizas are only painted in the exposed areas. The rest of the design is sketched.
In the old days they covered icons with rizas to prevent wear from everyone kissing the holy icon, but it became fashionable to cover them anyway, and what was the point of painting underneath.

 

I told him not to, but he went ahead and did it anyway. I reported him to the head dragon, and he hasn't been seen since...... Only pictures remain.

 

Christian dragonslaying stories have the hidden meaning of Christianity destroying ancient religions. Images of saints treading on snakes generally carry the same symbolism. St Patrick ridding Ireland of snakes too.
The message is, ancient religions are a danger to the people, Christianity will save them. I'm not sure everyone was convinced, considering the atrocities that often accompanied 'conversion'. But that is a whole other story.

 

The icon itself is under the protective cover, it should be a complete painting, though one having only the hands and faces painted might date back to the 19th century (and if actually silver, would expect to see proper marks).

While not necessarily suggesting the OP removes the riza herself, if expected to determine its age and authenticity, believe it's likely that an expert will want to see the actual icon under the riza (suspect there are are knowledgeable folks in the UK who could give it a look)...

Bit more information:

On spotting a fake:
https://russianicon.com/antique-russian-icons-how-to-spot-a-fake/

On forgery of icons (paragraph 13 addresses "flying hands and heads"):
https://journals.openedition.org/ceroart/1110

On the covers:
https://russianicons.wordpress.com/tag/oklad/

~Cheryl

 

This picture gives more of an idea of the size of the icon and is extremely heavy

Thankyou , I just popped it on here as I have used the forum before and was given great information ..

I will at some point take it to an expect thankyou once again

 

The letters appear to be the same ones as those of this Jesus Pantocrater:

 

Just spent a little time looking into this. The Estonian language uses Latin rather than Cyrillic alphabet. Estonia was heavily influenced by the Reformation; was surprised to learn that the major religion has been Lutheranism. The Orthodox church in Estonia has had a rocky history. Never independent, alternating governance between Constantinople, which they preferred, & Russia, which they resisted. It makes interesting reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonian_Apostolic_Orthodox_Church

Currently the Orthodox in Estonia are divided into those who recognize the authority of Russia, primarily ethnic Russians, & the primarily ethnic Estonians, who do not.

 

The marks on this one are on an edge:

https://auction.catawiki.com/kavels...ing-the-dragon-with-embossed-silver-riza-1890

 

That's right. The whole problem between the Baltic States and Russia is that the Baltic States were never culturally Russian at all, and still strongly object to being associated with anything Russian. They are fiercely Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian.
One of the Baltic States, I can't remember which one right now, even refuses to grant ethnic Russians who live within their borders citizenship.

 

Seems to me like you spent A LOT of time looking into this, LOL. I see these objects from time to time at auctions but know nothing about them.

 

My thinking was that knowing about the church might give some leads about where/when icon was made & who would have owned it. No clear answer, but some windows of time to start the investigation.

 

Hey, I didn't even mention the involvement of the Finnish Orthodox Church!

 

As in my opinion it's just impossible to say something with such a picture, the best place to buy faked icons was the USSR and the satellits, I wrote years ago about the faked oklad made with electolysis proceed which gives perfect results but multiples of the original used for the mold, it can interest people when I put in on the forum, it's in french but as a pdf easy to translate ?