LOT 0437

Wooden Icon of the Virgin Mary Blessed by Angels

ASIA MINOR, 18TH CENTURY A.D.

8 1/2 x 11 3/8 in. (755 grams, 21.6 x 29 cm).

Painted on a wooden board with raised frame, gessoed surface with painting of Mary adored by four kneeling females around her and three winged angels above; Mary clad in deep red floor-length robe with dark blue mantle; bearded God in upper corner releasing a dove (The Holy Spirit) towards her; Mary's nimbus emphasised with a gilt metal crescent around the head, with repoussé wreath detailing and pellets to the border; pins and suspension link to one edge of the frame.

Ex Mehlis Auctions, Berlin, Germany.
From an important collection of icons.

Cf. Geelmuyden Bulgurlu, V., Ulf, A., Lindgren, N., Bodin, H., Balicka-Witakowska, E., Five essays on icons, Stockholm & Istanbul, 2005, fig.E p.86, for a figure of Mary with identical face in the collection of Gunnar Ekelof.

The view of Mary as the Comforter of the Afflicted is one of the oldest in the church. Here the painter combines the theme of the consoling mother with that of her being calling by God as Mother of Life, with the angels in devotion, while desperate human beings crowd at her feet. Here, God is sending his spirit in the form of a dove, to sanction the union between heaven and earth confirmed by Mary, who is the vas Christi.