Details

LOT 2001

Greek Icon with Saint Anthony the Abbot and Saint Charalambos

EARLY 19TH CENTURY A.D.

9 7/8 x 7 1/4 in. (558 grams, 25 x 18.6 cm).

Saint Anthony the Great on the left, represented in monastic dress holding a scroll of holy writings with his left hand; Saint Charalambos dressed as a bishop, with a green sticharion embroidered in gold, covered by a pink gold embroidered phelonion, a gold embroidered square epigonation with blue edges, and a long orange gold embroidered epitrachelion, holding a gold covered gospel with the image of Christ's resurrection with his left hand; tempera on wood.

Provenance

Acquired from Portobello Road, London, in the 1990s.
Property of a London, UK, gentleman collector.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Literature

Cf. Matthieson, S., Morrison, G., Heavenly Beings, Icons of the Christian Orthodox World, Auckland, 2022, p.192, for icons of Saint Charalambos; for an icon of Saint Anthony the Great see the prototype of his icons made by Michail Damaskinos, in Chatzidakis, M., Musee Byzantin d'Athenes, Icons, Athens, 1979, icon no.15.

Footnotes

Saint Anthony the Great, who lived in the 3rd-4th century A.D., was the father of Eastern Monachism. According to the tradition, Saint Charalambos was martyred in 202 A.D. He is the protector of prosperity and health.