Pendant of Charles Sydney Gibbes

Creator

Preview

Creation Date

Early 20th century

Culture

Russian, Orthodox

Medium

Silver

Dimensions

2 1/4 in.

Credit Line

Bequest of David P. Harris ('46), 2020

Accession Number

2020.166

Provenance

Purchased from Iconostas, London, in 1989.

References

Brad Hostetler, with Ani Parnagian, "From Private to Public: The Collection of David P. Harris," in Ethiopian Objects in the Blick-Harris Study Collection: Art, Context, and the Persistence of Form, eds. Brad Hostetler, and Lynn Jones, Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture 8, no. 1 (Spring 2022): 5–25. https://digital.kenyon.edu/perejournal/vol8/iss1/1/

Description

This one sided Russian silver icon shows the Mother of God, half-figure, with the superimposed image of the Infant Christ, an iconographic type called "the Virgin of the Womb." On either side of the Virgin's head is a seraph. At the bottom of the icon are the stamped maker's initials, E.K., and a stamp with the number 84 and an equestrian figure facing the left. The icon is contained in a silver frame, with a ring at the top, the frame also displaying the above stamps. This pendant was formerly in the collection of Charles Gibbes, tutor to the Imperial Family of Tsar Nicholas II.