Trittico da viaggio raffigurante la Deesis, 19th century

Bronze casting with polychrome enamels

Height × Width: 7.5 × 18 cm Weight: 359.6 g.

In the central panel appears the Pantocrator, while in the side panels the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Baptist are depicted in an attitude of intercession, according to the traditional scheme. In this triptych, however, the Baptist is portrayed in the garments of the “Angel of the Desert,” an Eastern iconography that gives him wings, symbolizing his ascetic life and his role as a divine messenger. The Child he holds in his hands is not an earthly infant, but the anticipation of Christ the Lamb, presented to the world by the Forerunner as a living sacrifice for the salvation of humanity. The outer plate features a simple circular reserve at the center of which stands the image of the Cross of Golgotha. The symbol of the Passion stands out against a dramatic background, where the turreted walls of Jerusalem and the complex volumes of buildings evoke the Holy City according to the visionary aesthetics of the Russian tradition. In the corners between the central clipeus and the outer edge appear the symbols of the Evangelists. These artifacts, generally small in size, were 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.