Bidspirit auction | Travel icon depicting the Crucifixion,

Travel icon depicting the Crucifixion, 19th century - Bronze casting with polychrome enamels Height × width: 9 × 7.5 cm Weight: 152.1 g. At the centre of the scene, at the foot of the Cross, the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Baptist stand in prayer. The entire composition is enclosed by a frame of clipei, which expand the theological meaning of the work. In the upper register, at the apex of the structure, the Deesis appears again, flanked by the two Archangels, while along the remaining perimeter of the frame are arranged further Selected Saints. This icon belongs to the group of Russian Old Believers’ icons, produced in series from the seventeenth century onward and characterized by a rigorous adherence to the canons of the Byzantine tradition. These objects, often cast in bronze and sometimes enriched with coloured enamels, were generally small in size and intended for private devotion. Their portability made them easy to carry and, when necessary, to conceal, thus responding to the religious needs of a community that, following the schism known as the *Raskol*, endured periods of persecution by the official Russian Orthodox Church.