19th C. Russian Icon - Synaxaria Calendar for March

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Fine Antiquities, Asian, Ethnographic Art

By Artemis Gallery

Oct 31, 2019

Set Reminder 2019-10-31 10:00:00 2019-10-31 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Fine Antiquities, Asian, Ethnographic Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/fine-antiquities-asian-ethnographic-art-4581
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• Lot Description
  Eastern Europe, Russia, ca. 19th century CE. Finely painted in egg tempera and gold leaf on gesso and linen atop wood, a mesmerizing calendar icon known as a synaxaria (monthly) representing the month of March - as opposed to a menologia (annual) calendar. The more than thirty different compositions on this icon derive from miniatures painted in manuscript collections representing portraits of various saints and depictions of the holy feast days commemorated during March, each miniature labeled in calligraphic Cyrillic text. Sometimes the artist has elected to depict saints who are celebrated on the same day together, and other times only the first saint celebrated is depicted. Most often saints are depicted standing; however, martyred saints are typically shown at the moment of their martyrdom. In addition to weekly or monthly icons, diptychs covering four months and more complex panels that include the full cycle of twelve months were created. Size: 12.125" W x 14" H (30.8 cm x 35.6 cm).
  
  Poetically described by scholar Alfredo Tradigo, "Rather like musical scores, these icons are veritable calendars of sainthood." (Tradigo, "Icons and Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church" Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2006, p. 24.) Special examples like this one traditionally would have been displayed in churches upon special lecterns. Calendar icons portray the feast days of the saints in chronological order, usually alternating with movable liturgical feasts, as dictated by the Orthodox calendar, which begins on the first of September. Calendar icons may be referred to as menologia (annual) or synaxaria (monthly), and their many panels are modeled on miniatures featured in manuscript collections of saints' lives.
  
  Icons (icon means "image" in Greek) are sacred objects within the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition. Found in homes as well as churches, these painted images depict holy persons and saints as well as illustrate scenes from the Scriptures. Icons are not worshiped, but are instead venerated for their ability to focus the power of an individual's prayer to God. As such they are truly "windows into heaven."
  
  Provenance: ex-Francis & Lilly Robicsek collection, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
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  #119508

  Condition

  Expected age-commensurate surface wear, some fading to iconography, small chips and losses to pigmentation and gold leaf, with light abrasions and nicks on obverse side. Areas of roughness and small chips and unevenness to peripheries. Old inventory number "TM 8230" written in black marker on verso. Two metal screws and suspension wire on verso as well.
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