Bidspirit auction | [Vladimir–Ivanovo Icon-Painting Centre] Icon “Christ

[Vladimir–Ivanovo Icon-Painting Centre] Icon “Christ Pantokrator” (“Saviour of the World”). Gorbunov workshop, village of Kholuy, Vladimir Province. Late 18th – early 19th century. Wood panel, gesso, egg tempera. Dimensions: 26 × 34 × 2 cm. Condition: excellent, close to museum quality. Professional restoration of the mid‑20th century affects less than 5% of the surface: delicate retouching on the face, small reconstructions in areas of minor loss and along the margins; the original colour scheme of the painting is preserved, the panel is flat and without deformation. The icon shows a half‑length, strictly frontal image of Jesus Christ in the iconography “Saviour of the World” (Latin Salvator Mundi), rare for provincial Russian icon painting and ultimately derived from Western European models: Christ’s right hand is raised in a gesture of blessing, while His left rests on a spherical orb symbolising the universe and His dominion over the world. The deep dark background with radiant halo, the lightened flesh tones with soft modelling, the characteristic drawing of the freely falling folds of the tunic and himation, and the restrained, muted palette with accents of dense reds and saturated blues find close parallels in works by Kholuy icon‑painters of the Gorbunov dynasty of the late 18th – early 19th century. The icon displays a combination, typical of “Gorbunov manner”, of the austere frontal image of Christ with a lively, almost baroque treatment of the draperies and a dark, almost black ground on which the glow of the halo and the silvery orb stand out with particular expressiveness. The iconography “Saviour of the World”, rare for Kholuy painting, together with the compact format and excellent state of preservation, makes this work especially attractive for a collection of icons from the Vladimir–Ivanovo and Kholuy stylistic circle, as well as for a representative interior display.