A RARE SILVER-GILT, NIELLO, CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL AND SEED PEARL ICON OF THE JERUSALEM MOTHER OF GOD, A.M. POSTNIKOV PARTNERSHIP, MOSCOW, 1892
Auction Closed
November 26, 06:32 PM GMT
Estimate
40,000 - 60,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
A RARE SILVER-GILT, NIELLO, CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL AND SEED PEARL ICON OF THE JERUSALEM MOTHER OF GOD, A.M. POSTNIKOV PARTNERSHIP, MOSCOW, 1892
intricately decorated, the robes of seed pearl and set with pastes, the halos with enamelled scrolls on gilt grounds, the Virgin on a nielloed ground within a blue and white pellets, the borders repoussé with a foliate pattern, struck on the edge with the maker's mark, 84 standard
26.5 by 21.5cm, 10⅜ by 8½in.
Icons incorporating niello into the design of their oklads are exceptionally rare. The few known examples include an earlier icon from 1795 of a Mother of God, with a completely nielloed oklad, in the collection of Hillwood Museum and Gardens, Washington D.C. (A. Odom, Russian Silver in America: Surviving the Melting Pot, London, 2011, pp. 112-113).