Travel triptych depicting the expanded Deesis, 19th century

Bronze casting with polychrome enamels

Height × Width: 7 × 17.5 cm Weight: 234.4 g.

In the central panel appears the Pantocrator, flanked by the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Baptist, while in the side panels the composition expands further with the presence of additional saints, forming an extended procession of intercessors, according to a typology widely found in Russian portable icons. The closing plate of the diptych bears the Cross of Golgotha enclosed within a linear frame, itself surrounded by a refined border with abstract vegetal motifs. Triptychs of this type were particularly widespread among the Old Believers. These artifacts, often made of bronze and sometimes enriched with colored enamel, 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, underwent periods of persecution by the official Russian Orthodox Church.