Lot number 1348 - Auction 151
AUS DEM KUPPELKUPFER DER MOSKAUER USPENSKI KATHEDRALE: BEDEUTENDER IKONEN-ANHÄNGER MIT DER GOTTESMUTTER VON WLADIMIR

FROM THE CUPOLA COPPER OF THE MOSCOW USPENSKI CATHEDRAL: AN IMPORTANT ICON PENDANT SHOWING THE MOTHER OF GOD OF VLADIMIR Russian, Moscow, 1896 Copper, brass, oil painting, gilt ground, chrysography. On the reverse a Cyrillic dedicatory inscription: 'In commemoration of the renovations of the Moscow Great Dormition (Uspenski) Cathedral 1894-1896. This holy icon was painted on gilded copper from the great cupola, which, according to tradition, had been erected in 1550, under Prince D. I. Shirinsky-Shikhmatov.' Minor paint losses. 8.2 x 6.4 cm. Among all Russian cathedrals, the Cathedral of the Dormition (Uspenski Cathedral) in the Moscow Kremlin holds the foremost place in importance. Built in the 1470s by the Italian architect Aristotele Fioravanti, it remained for more than six centuries the center of both ecclesiastical and state life - first in the Muscovite Tsardom, later in the Russian Empire. Within its walls took place the coronations of Russian tsars and emperors; through the sacrament of anointment with chrism, they received here the divine grace of the Holy Spirit for their sovereign office. By the 1890s, the cathedral had become severely dilapidated and required comprehensive restoration. The works were overseen by a specially established committee, among whose leading members was the Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod, Prince A. A. Shirinsky-Shikhmatov. Restoration began in 1894 and was vigorously pursued in preparation for the coronation of Nicholas II and his consort in 1896. This small icon is a significant and unique artifact of that epoch. Fashioned from material that had once been part of the cathedral itself, it preserves within it a tangible fragment of its sacred history.