Travel triptych depicting the expanded Deesis, 19th century

Bronze casting with polychrome enamels

Height × Width: 9.5 × 11.5 cm Weight: 143.4 g.

In the central panel appears the Pantocrator, while on the sides the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Baptist are depicted in an attitude of intercession, following the classic scheme of the Deesis. The composition is further expanded by the presence of other saints in the side panels, forming an extended procession of intercessors, according to a typology widely used in Russian portable icons. Triptychs of this type were particularly common among the Old Believers. These artifacts, often made of bronze and sometimes enriched with colored enamels, 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.