Travel triptych depicting the Hodegetria with the symbols of the Passion, 19th century

Bronze casting with polychrome enamels

Height × Width: 11 × 15 cm Weight: 159.7 g.

The central panel presents a variant of the traditional Hodegetria type, in which the Child, depicted with the features of a small adult, turns his gaze upward toward the instruments of the Passion, expressing full awareness of his salvific destiny. This iconography blends Greek solemnity with the tenderness of the Eleusa Virgin, recalling renowned models such as the Madonna of Perpetual Help of Cretan origin, which became widely disseminated in Russia in the 17th century. It was precisely under the reign of Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich that the transfer of a miraculous image of the Mother of God of the Passion from Nizhny Novgorod to Moscow led to the foundation of the Monastery of the Passion, a center of profound popular devotion. The composition is crowned by a pediment where, among the clouds, the blessing figure of God the Father emerges, while at the tops of the side panels the mystery of the Annunciation unfolds, with the Archangel Gabriel on one side and Mary on the other receiving the message. The body of the side wings also contains four fundamental mysteries of the liturgical year: the Presentation in the Temple and the Entry into Jerusalem, followed by the solemn Paschal scenes of the Anastasis (the Descent into Hell) and the Ascension, which complete the redemptive cycle around the central figure of the Virgin. 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, underwent periods of persecution by the official Russian Orthodox Church.