A FINE ICON OF THE SHESTODNEV

细节

A FINE ICON OF THE SHESTODNEV

PALEKH, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

At the top of the central composition are miniatures representing the six days of Creation, below, the Saviour appears enthroned beneath the 'Ancient of Days', flanked by the miniature figures of Adam and Eve wo are further depicted within the Garden of Eden and being expelled from it, 'All Saints' (commorated on Saturday) are represented in two ranks along the bottom register, on either side of the central composition are shown miniature represenations of:
The Anastasis (commemorated on Monday)
The Synaxis of the Archangel Michael (commemorated on Monday)
The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (commemorated on Tuesday)
The Annunciation to the Virgin (commemorated on Wednesday)
Christ washing the feet of the Apostles (commemorated on Thursday)
The Crucifixion (commemorated on Friday)
The raised border is painted with the four Evangelists at the corners, the Divine Liturgy on the upper border, the murder of the Passion bearer, the Tsarevich Dmitri on the lower border, and with twelve miniatures of paired saints including Gregory of Nyssa and Basil the Great, Gregory Nazianzous and John Chrysostomos, the Sainted Metropolitans of Moscow and Rostov, Saints Sergei of Varlaam Khutinsky and Grand Prince Vladimir, the Moscow 'Holy Fools' Basil and Maxim, and John the Big Cap and John
21 x 17¼in. (53.5 x 44cm.)

拍品专文

Compare with an almost identical icon in the Korin Collection in Moscow. See V/I Antonova, Drevnerusskoe Iskusstva v Sobranie Pavla Korina, Moscow, 1966, pls.132 and 133. The Korin icon is inscribed 'This Holy Image is painted in the year 7321 from the Creation of the World and 1813 from the Fleshtaking of the Word by Vasili Ivanov Khokhlov of the vilage of Palekh'. A comparison would suggest the possibility that both icons are by the same painter.

The purpose of such icons is to provide contemplative themes for each day of the week.