Travel triptych depicting the Deesis, 19th century

Bronze casting with polychrome enamels

Height × width: 13.5 × 35 cm Weight: 743 g

The central panel depicts Christ Pantocrator, while the side panels show the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Baptist in attitudes of intercession, following the traditional Deesis arrangement. The exterior face is framed by a border decorated with geometric motifs, at the centre of which, within an irregular circular medallion, appears the Cross of Golgotha. The symbol of the Passion stands out against a scenic background featuring the fortified walls of Jerusalem and the complex volumes of buildings that evoke the Holy City according to the visionary aesthetic of the Russian tradition. In the spandrels between the central medallion and the surrounding frame appear the symbols of the Four Evangelists. These objects, generally small in size, were intended for private devotion. Their portability made them easy to carry and, when necessary, to conceal, thus responding to the religious needs of a community that, following the schism known as the Raskol, endured periods of persecution by the official Russian Orthodox Church.