Travel icon depicting Saint George, 19th century

Cast bronze with polychrome enamels

Height × width: 7 × 6.5 cm Weight: 105 g.

According to the traditional canon, Saint George is depicted as a young warrior on horseback, with a red cloak—symbol of his martyrdom—billowing in the wind. A serpent-like creature beneath the horse represents evil or defeated paganism. The most significant detail, which allows the icon to be placed within the context of the Old Believers, is the position of the fingers of the hand of God emerging from the upper right corner to bless George. In Old Believer icons, the hand is always depicted with two fingers extended, symbolizing the dual nature of Christ, in contrast to the three fingers introduced by the reforms. Moreover, icons attributable to this religious group were generally small in size and intended for private devotion. Their portability made them easy to carry and, if necessary, to conceal, thus meeting the religious needs of a community that, after the schism known as the Raskol, experienced periods of persecution by the official Russian Orthodox Church.