ICON ‘THE MOTHER OF GOD, UNEXPECTED JOY’ IN SILVER OKLAD Central Russia, early 20th century

Oklad: silver, chiselled, engraved, gilded, cloisonné enamel Hallmarks: master’s mark in Cyrillic ‘V.S.’, woman’s head turned to the right in an oval shield with the initials A.S. - mark of the Kostroma district precious metals control office, 1899-1905 wood, oil 31.7 x 26.5 cm Condition: overall in good condition, patina on the oklad. The icon of the Mother of God ‘Unexpected Joy’ is an icon of the Virgin Mary venerated as miraculous in the Russian Orthodox Church. The iconography was inspired by the account of a miraculous vision of a sinner, described by Saint Dimitri of Rostov in his work ‘Runo oroshennoe’ (1683). The story tells of a man who used to pray every day before the icon of the Mother of God, then go and do the evil he had planned. But one day, during his prayer, he ‘saw the icon move and the Mother of God alive with her Son. He saw the wounds of the Child open... and blood flow freely, as on the Cross’. Frightened, the man asked the Virgin Mary about these wounds, and the Virgin replied that sinners crucified Jesus Christ every time they did evil. The sinner begged the Mother of God to grant him mercy and to intercede on his behalf with her Son. The Mother of God agreed, but Jesus rejected his prayer for forgiveness three times. The Virgin insisted, and God, out of respect for His Mother, finally forgave the sinner. The latter then changed his life. The forgiveness of his sins was an ‘unexpected joy’ for him. The composition of the icon faithfully reproduces the account of St. Dimitri of Rostov. On the left, we see the sinner praying, kneeling before the image of the Odigitria. The Child Jesus is on his knees with torn clothes and wounds. Under the image of the Virgin, we see the sinner’s prayer.