Portable Triptych Icon: The Crucifixion

Unknown artist, 1600s

Download2982 × 3232 px View on a wall Edit

Medium: Painted wood panel within enameled brass frame
Size: Unframed: 6.5 x 6.2 x 0.7 cm (2 9/16 x 2 7/16 x 1/4 in.); Closed: 7.3 x 6.9 x 3.4 cm (2 7/8 x 2 11/16 x 1 5/16 in.); Open and extended: 7 x 19.1 cm (2 3/4 x 7 1/2 in.)
Culture: Byzantium. Russia, Moscow?, Byzantine period, 17th century
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

This triptych icon was probably commissioned by a lay person for private prayer and meditation. It could be folded and shut when not in use. The scenes represented from left to right are: The Crucifixion (left); The Resurrection and Anastasis (center); and Adoration of the Miracle-Working Icon of the Vladimir Mother of God (right). Small portable icons such as this were common to later Russian religious practice.