A HIGHLY IMPORTANT JEWELLED GOLD-MOUNTED PRESENTATION ICON OF THE PATRON SAINTS OF MOSCOW ST ALEXIS, PETER AND JONAH
A HIGHLY IMPORTANT JEWELLED GOLD-MOUNTED PRESENTATION ICON OF THE PATRON SAINTS OF MOSCOW ST ALEXIS, PETER AND JONAH
A HIGHLY IMPORTANT JEWELLED GOLD-MOUNTED PRESENTATION ICON OF THE PATRON SAINTS OF MOSCOW ST ALEXIS, PETER AND JONAH
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A HIGHLY IMPORTANT JEWELLED GOLD-MOUNTED PRESENTATION ICON OF THE PATRON SAINTS OF MOSCOW ST ALEXIS, PETER AND JONAH

THE ICON, MOSCOW, THIRD QUARTER 17TH CENTURY; THE OKLAD, ASSEMBLED CIRCA 1912

Details
A HIGHLY IMPORTANT JEWELLED GOLD-MOUNTED PRESENTATION ICON OF THE PATRON SAINTS OF MOSCOW ST ALEXIS, PETER AND JONAH
THE ICON, MOSCOW, THIRD QUARTER 17TH CENTURY; THE OKLAD, ASSEMBLED CIRCA 1912
All saints depicted full length, with an image of the Trinity above, the gold basma oklad assembled from various pieces, the fine filigree scrollwork tsata and halos decorated with cabochon rubies and coloured garnets, applied with black champlevé enamelled gold plaques, inscribed with the names of the saints and the Russian inscription ‘[To] Pious Heir to the Throne Tsesarevitch and Grand Prince Alexei Nikolaevich Moscow City Year 1912 May’, apparently unmarked; with a velvet-lined kiot
12½ x 10¾ in. (31.8 x 27.5 cm.)
Provenance
Presented to the Tsesarevich Aleksei Nikolaevich (1904-1918) by the City of Moscow in May 1912 during his first visit to Moscow.
Special notice
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Iona Ballantyne
Iona Ballantyne

Lot Essay

It is known that in May 1912 Tsesarevich Aleksei travelled to Moscow together with his parents Emperor Nicholas I and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna for the opening of the statue of his grandfather Alexander III. It was his first state visit to Moscow, an important occasion celebrated with festivities and Imperial receptions.

Vladimir Dzhunkovsky (1865-1938), at the time Governor-General of Moscow, describes the Imperial state visit in detail in his ‘Memoires’. A few days before the opening ceremony on 30 May, Emperor Nicholas I and his family received an official group of statesmen, nobility and city representatives in the Dormition Cathedral in the Kremlin. During this reception, the Moscow Mayor Nikolay Guchkov presented the icon of St Alexis to Tsesarevich Aleksei on behalf of the Moscow City Council, proclaiming: ‘God bless you and may the Great Bishop of Moscow Alexis guide you to the delight of your parents and for the benefit of the Russian people’ (V. Dzhunkovsky, Memoires, Moscow, vol. 1, 2015).

The Moscow Nobility Society also presented another icon to Tsesarevich Aleksei on the same occasion. Its current location is unknown, although it was recorded that the icon was designed by V. Vasnetsov and depicted Vladimir Mother of God.

The present icon has a gold oklad which is assembled from earlier embossed pieces as well as a contemporary champlevé enamelled gold plaque with the dedication inscription dated 1912. The design of the oklad thus resembles early medieval assembled examples and embodies the revival of a traditional Russian artistic vernacular.

We are grateful to Dr Valentin Skurlov for their assistance with the research of the present lot.

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