Travel triptych depicting the Mother of Consolation, 19th century

Bronze casting and polychrome enamels

Height x width: 10.5 x 15 cm Weight: 160.5 g.

The artifact is a portable triptych with three opening wings in cast bronze, typical of the metallurgical production of the Russian Old Believers. The central panel features the iconography of the Mother of God of Consolation, a cult whose origin tradition traces back to the miraculous rescue from a shipwreck of Arcadius, son of Theodosius I, attributed to the intervention of the Virgin Mary. At the site where Arcadius was found, on the beach of Vatopedi near Mount Athos, Patriarch Nectarius erected a sanctuary and placed the icon of the Otrada, which served as the model for copies later sent to Russia. In the upper part of this central scene, God the Father emerges from the clouds, surmounted by a host of cherubim. In the lateral wings, the iconographic program unfolds through four of the Great Feasts of the liturgical year: the Entry into Jerusalem and the Presentation in the Temple, followed by the Paschal scenes of the Anastasis (the Harrowing of Hell) and the Ascension. The cycle concludes in the pediments of the side wings, where the mystery of the Annunciation is depicted, strictly divided between the figures of the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin. Such artifacts were generally small in size and intended for private devotion. Their portability allowed them to be easily transported and, if necessary, hidden, thus responding to the religious needs of a community that, following the schism known as Raskol, suffered periods of persecution by the official Russian Orthodox Church.