Travel icon depicting the Haghiosoritissa, 19th century

Bronze casting with polychrome enamels

Height × width: 17 × 15.5 cm Weight: 417.4 g.

That is, the Virgin depicted in the act of supplication and intercession. The figure is shown half-length, slightly in profile, with her hands extended in a gesture of prayer toward her Son, following the Deesis model, which presents her as a mediator between humanity and the divine. The image is framed by a blue enamel square, which is in turn enclosed within a thick white border. Both chromatic sections are enriched with abstract vegetal decoration. The icon belongs to the production of the Old Believers, the community that, following the 17th-century schism, rejected the reforms of Patriarch Nikon. Persecuted by the official Church and the state, these believers were forced into a condition of constant exile and concealment; for this reason, they favored metal icons, which functioned as true portable altars. Bronze was the only material capable of withstanding precarious transport, impacts, and even fire or burial, ensuring believers a sacred object that remained intact in every clandestine refuge.