AN ICON ‘THE MOTHER OF GOD, THE JOY OF ALL WHO SORROW’ IN A SILVER OKLAD WITH SAINT VARUS AND SAINT JOHN THE SOLDIER

Kostroma region/ Yaroslavl, end of the 18th century Oklad: silver, chased, embossed, river pearls, coloured leaf hallmarks: master’s mark ‘A.K.’ (?); silversmith’s mark ‘M.S.’ (?) under the date ‘1767’; coat of arms of the city of Yaroslavl ‘a bear on its hind legs, holding an ax’ and silver mark ‘84’ tempera, levkas, gold leaf on wood panel 31 x 26 cm Condition: without restoration, painting under a layer of dark varnish, losses on elements of the oklad. The icon ‘The Mother of God, the Joy of All Who Sorrow’ represents the Virgin Mary, and traditionally includes images of people afflicted by illness and sorrow and Angels doing good deeds in the name of the Virgin. The Mother of God is depicted full-length, standing in a mandorla (radiance). Above in the clouds God the Father is depicted. In the lower part of the icon, we can see an image of a ship, which does not occur very often, and it comes from the Western tradition of venerating the Madonna of Sailors. In Russia the image was prayed for protection and patronage of all sea travellers. The iconography 'Our Lady of the Navigators' was adopted by the Russian icon painters of the Kremlin Armoury from the late 17th century.