Bidspirit auction | Icon ”The Resurrection of Christ

Icon ”The Resurrection of Christ — The Harrowing of Hell” with the Twelve Great Feasts. Kholui, Russian Empire, mid – second half of the 19th century. Wood, ark (kovcheg), gesso, tempera, gilding. Dimensions: 35.2 × 30.2 cm. Condition: fair; darkened varnish, numerous areas of wear and soiling; localised losses of the paint layer and ground on the borders and in the feast scenes, isolated chips down to the wood; the panel has two inset splines. The panel and tempera painting are in good structural condition. The icon has a deep ark and wide borders. At the centre is an expansive composition of ”The Descent of Christ into Hell”: Christ stands within a mandorla upon the shattered gates of Hell, leading out Adam and Eve; on either side are Old Testament righteous, prophets and kings; in the lower part, demons bound by angels at the ruined gates of Hell. Around the central panel, along the perimeter of the ark, are twelve scenes of the Great Feasts with inscriptions along the upper border of each. Oral consultation by specialists of the Central Museum of Early Russian Culture and Art named after Andrei Rublev — the museum of Russian ecclesiastical art of the Medieval and Modern periods.