Saints Council

The juxtaposition of several and more depictions of different saints on a single painting support was common in Russian icon painting. Such icons were often used privately as household icons. They depicted particularly venerated saints and intercessors for very specific needs, to whom requests and prayers were addressed, believing in their effective intercession. Icons that were especially cherished or significant to their owners

were often further adorned with covers, embroidery, various types of embellishments, and placed in decorative cases known as kiots. A modest example is the presented image, featuring saints in a silver, chiselled, and gilded cover with openings for the faces and hands of the painted figures: the martyr Saint Eugene, Prince Wenceslaus of Bohemia, the martyr Lydia, and Prince Vladimir of Kiev. The cover is marked with the craftsman’s signature and the date 1871. The icon has been fitted in a modern frame with a glazed kiot.

Teresa Bagińska-Żurawska https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9243-3967