A Russian Orthodox icon depicting selected saints. |5789 |

A Russian Orthodox icon depicting selected saints.

The icon features five saints: 1) Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople; 2) St. Anna the Prophetess; 3) St. Alexius, Metropolitan of Moscow; 4) St. Anastasia; and 5) St. John of the Ladder (John Climacus).

The icon was painted in the second half of the 19th century on Mount Athos using egg tempera over gold leaf on a gesso ground; the panel is constructed from two layers of cypress wood. The borders are decorated with a delicate openwork pattern of gold and polychrome enamel, imitating an elaborate gilded metal *riza* (revetment); two opposing profiled splines are inlaid into the reverse side. A red wax seal of the St. Andrew Skete on Mount Athos, located in the bottom right corner, attests that the icon was painted in the skete's icon-painting workshop and consecrated there.

Condition: The painting is fully preserved in its original state; no restoration has been performed, although there is minor rubbing of the paint layer and signs of age.

Provenance: The icon comes from a private European collection.

Note: Analysis of inscriptions on the reverse: A partially worn ink inscription is visible on the panel, executed in the distinctive Athonite cursive script of the late 19th to early 20th century. The text consists of the standard blessing formula of the St. Andrew Skete. Inscription at the top: "This icon was painted and consecrated on the Holy Mount Athos at the Russian Cenobitic Skete of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called."

Dedication inscription at the bottom: The Russian monk Dimity, who pursued the ascetic life at the St. Andrew Skete on Mount Athos, bestows this icon as a blessing upon his brother Yakov and his family, who live in Russia, conveying to them that he has prayed for their health on the Holy Mountain.

Dimensions: 31 × 26.3 cm (12 × 10 1/4 inches).