Antique Triptych-Paneled Traveling Icon. Gilt on Mary and Jesus in the central panel. 

Size: 4 1/4 x 10 x 1 1/2 in. 

#2941 #21 . 

An icon, from the Ancient Greek eikṓn, meaning “image/resemblance,” is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, saints, and angels. Although especially associated with portrait-style images concentrating on one or two main figures, the term also covers most of the religious images in a variety of artistic media produced by Eastern Christianity, including narrative scenes, usually from the Bible or the lives of saints. Icons are most commonly painted on wood panels with egg tempera, but they may also be cast in metal, carved in stone, embroidered on cloth, done in mosaic or fresco work, or printed on paper or metal. Comparable images from Western Christianity may be classified as “icons,” but the term “iconic” has more commonly come to be used to describe the static style of a devotional image, and has entered the secular lexicon as a term for cultural trendsetters and tastemakers. Modern academic art historians have been able to trace the tradition back only as far as the 3rd Century, and have found that images which survive from Early Christian art often differ greatly from later ones. Widespread destruction of images occurred during the Byzantine Iconoclasm of 726 to 842. Since then, icons have had a much greater continuity of style and subject, and most surviving pieces are housed in numerous churches spread across the globe. A riza, sometimes called a “revetment,” is a metal cover protecting an icon. It is usually made of gilt or silvered metal with repoussé work and is pierced to expose elements of the underlying painting. It is sometimes enameled, filigreed, or set with artificial, semi-precious or even precious stones and pearls. Because candles and lampadas (oil lamps) are burned in front of icons, and incense is used during services, icons can become darkened over time, which the riza helps protect against. When an icon is set in a book (often as a triptych with two painted opening panels revealing the main icon) the riza becomes pivotal, as exposure to the elements is even more damaging than the more climate-controlled atmosphere of a church.