LOT 1979

Russian Orthodox Enamelled Bronze Travel Icon with Saint John the Baptist

19TH CENTURY A.D.

4 5/8 in. (190 grams, 11.8 cm).

With blue champlevé enamel, depicting Saint John the Baptist, portrayed as an elderly man, wearing a camel-skin robe; his left hand holding a scroll with the prophecy of Isaiah, while the right hand is raised in blessing gesture; at the top, Old Slavic Inscription ‘Saint John the Precursor’ (Иоа́нн Предте́ча); pseudo-vegetal background with abstract decorations.

Acquired from Chris Martin-Zakheim, Iconastas, 5 Piccadilly Arcade, London SW1.
From the private collection of a West London, UK, gentleman, formed since the early 2000s.

Cf. Eighme Ahlborn, R., Beaver-Bricken Espinola, V., Russian Copper Icons and crosses from the Kunz Collection: Castings of Faith, Washington, 1991, nos.25819.083, p.50, for similar iconography.

John the Baptist is called ‘the Precursor’ because his evangelical mission was to prepare the way for Jesus Christ, announcing his imminent arrival and calling people to repentance and welcome the Messiah. His role as a ‘forerunner prophet’ makes him the link between the Old and New Testaments, as he prophesied the coming of Christ and baptised him in the Jordan River. He was considered the highest among the prophets in the hierarchy of saints of the Orthodox Church.