Object types
painting (scope note | all objects)
oklad (all objects)
icon (scope note | all objects)
Title (object)
The Mother of God Korsunskaya
Materials
wood (all objects)
silver-gilt (scope note | all objects)
Techniques
painted (scope note | all objects)
gilded (scope note | all objects)
embossed (scope note | all objects)
Production place
Made in Russia (scope note | all objects)
Made in Moscow (?) (scope note | all objects)
Date
1820-1830
1839 (? oklad)
Description
Icon; painted; the Virgin Mary tenderly hugs the Child with both hands. Christ blesses with his right hand and holds a scroll in his left. The revetment is embossed with symmetrical foliate ornament.
Inscription: in red in Greek on the upper border: MΡ ΘΥ ('Mother of God').
Egg tempera and gold on wood, silver-gilt revetment.
Inscriptions
Inscription Type: inscription
Inscription Script: Greek
Inscription Position: above figure
Inscription Language: Greek
Inscription Comment: identifying figure
Inscription Type: hallmark
Inscription Position: revetment by left edge of Virgin’s halo
Inscription Content: St George and the dragon above 1839 (Moscow coat of arms and date); 84 (mark of fineness); Б.Д above 1839; AП.
Inscription Comment: Б.Д is the mark of an unknown assay master. A.П is also the mark of an unknown master.
These marks are repeated on the bottom edge of the revetment, which is also punched with the numerals 112 and 30.
Dimensions
Height: 31.5 centimetres
Width: 26.6 centimetres
Thickness: 2.8 centimetres
Condition
Made from a single panel; the paint layer has slight abrasions, a thick darkened varnish, and some later over-painting on the edges; the scroll held by Christ has almost vanished.
Curator's comments
The iconography can be traced back to one of the two ‘original’ images of the Virgin Mary said to have been painted by St Luke from life. The version of the Mother of God tenderly embracing the Child with both hands is known in Byzantine art as the ‘Glykophilousa’ or ‘Eleousa’ (‘Umilenie’ in Russian). The original icon was said to have been brought from Korsun (Cherson on the Black Sea) to Kiev by Prince Vladimir the Great (955–1015), founder of the Russian state, in 988, where it was named Korsunskaya. The icon was subsequently taken to Novgorod and later to Moscow. This Russian version of the icon, where the Virgin tenderly holds the Child, is the so-called ‘shoulder’ type. It became particularly popular from the 16th century onwards.
Published:
Cormack 2007, 121, no. 33
Subject
virgin and child (scope note | all objects)
Associated names
Named in inscription & portrayed Virgin Mary (biographical details | all objects)
Representation of Jesus Christ (biographical details | all objects)
Associated places
Associated with Korsun (all objects)
Acquisition date
1998
Acquisition name
Bequeathed by Sir Frank Kenyon Roberts (biographical details | all objects)
Collected by Cella Roberts (biographical details | all objects)
Acquisition notes
Part of a collection of sixty-four icons, mostly collected before 1937.
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