ANTIQUE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ICON OF THE VIRGIN THEOTOKOS MARY WITH 3 HANDS & JESUS HODEGETRIA SILVER RIZA  / OHKLAD 14.5"x12.25"x2"

THE 19th c. ICON IS OF THE "VIRGIN THEOTOKOS WITH THREE HANDS"* "HODEGETRIA"** (SHOWER OF THE WAY) WITH BABY JESUS (Богородица Тројеручица) (see below descriptions)

THE TWO 'NATURAL HANDS OF THE VIRGIN ARE PAINTED AND THE 'THIRD HAND' IS IN CHASED IN THE SILVER RIZA (Риза, meaning “robe”) / OHKLAD (Оклад)*** OF THE ICON.

THE RIZA (Риза, meaning “robe”) / OHKLAD (Оклад) IS MARKED STERLING SILVER WITH THE HALOES GOLD PLATED. IT IS HEAVILY DONE IN REPOUSSE' AND CHASED.

SIZE: 

14.5 inches TALL / 36.83 cm

12.25 inches WIDE / 31.115 cm

2 inches DEEP / 5.08 cm

EXQUISITELY FROME PROFESSIONALLY WITH A DOUBLE FRAME, THE INNER FRAME AROUND THE ICON IS IN BURLED WOOD GRAIN AND THE OUTER SHADOW-BOX FRME IS IN ANTIQUE GOLD FINISH.

THERE IS A DECORATIVE ANTIQUE STYLE HANGER AT THE TOP.

FURTHER INFO:

*How the Virgin Got Her Third Hand (Богородица Тројеручица)

This is the story of how the Virgin got her third hand and how a man named John became known as St. John of Damascus.

Back in the days when Byzantium dominated the east, an emperor named Leo the Isaurian ascended to the throne. A strict iconoclast, Leo the Third believed in a literal interpretation of the Bible’s Ten Commandments which forbade the worship of any graven images including icons. And so, Emperor Leo issued a decree demanding the destruction of every icon throughout the Byzantine Empire.

In the neighboring Caliphate of Damascus, John – who served as a Christian counselor to the Muslim Caliph – started writing letters to everyone he knew explaining that the worship of icons was not a heresy but rather something sacred. He wrote down his arguments in three Apologetic Treatises Against Those Decrying the Holy Images which circulated with Rome’s blessing and won over many converts. Each one of these Treatises questioned Emperor Leo’s iconoclasm.

**HODEGETRIA

A Hodegetria (Greek: Ὁδηγήτρια, literally: "She who shows the Way"; Russian: Одигитрия), or Virgin Hodegetria, is an iconographic depiction of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) holding the Child Jesus at her side while pointing to Him as the source of salvation for mankind. In the Western Church this type of icon is sometimes called Our Lady of the Way.

The most venerated icon of the Hodegetria type, regarded as the original, was displayed in the Monastery of the Panaghia Hodegetria in Constantinople, which was built specially to contain it. Unlike most later copies it showed the Theotokos standing full-length. It was said to have been brought back from the Holy Land by Eudocia, the Empress of Theodosius II (408–450), and to have been painted by Saint Luke.[1] The icon was double-sided,[2] with a crucifixion on the other side, and was "perhaps the most prominent cult object in Byzantium".[3]

The original icon has probably now been lost, although various traditions claim that it was carried to Russia or Italy. There are a great number of copies of the image, including many of the most venerated of Russian icons, which have themselves acquired their own status and tradition of copying.

***RIZA

The riza (Риза, meaning “robe”) though largely synonymous with oklad, is generally now the preferred term to indicate the one-piece metal ornamental covers that were used to decorate icons from the latter part of the 17th century onward. Instead of being composed of individual sheets of metal stamped with ornamentation, as in the basma, the riza was a solid, single metal piece with edges bent at a right angle to fit over the sides of the icon. The riza was affixed to the icon by nailing it to the sides of the icon panel, thus avoiding the damage to the painted surface caused by use of the older basma. A riza was commonly decorated in repoussé work and engraving and chasing with a simplified form of those parts of the painted surface that it covered — garments, and even buildings and trees etc. in some cases, as well as inscriptions. A riza could be made of anything from gold to silver to gilded silver to silvered brass to tin, depending on what the patron desired and could afford. On gold or silver examples, one generally finds the hallmarks used on Russian works of precious metals — stamped maker’s initials, grade of metal, etc. 

VENERATED BY RUSSIAN ORTHODOX, GREEK ORTHODOX, ROMAN CATHOLIC, ICON LOVERS, UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX, UKRAINIAN GREEK CATHOLIC, BYZANTINE CATHOLIC, BYZANTINE EMPIRE, EASTERN ORTHODOX, EASTERN CATHOLIC, PRIESTS, BISHOPS, DEACONS

ALSO SEE: RUSSIAN ANTIQUES, ICONOGRAPHERS, SAINTS, HOLY, MOTHER OF GOD,  VIRGIN MARY, AVE MARIA, HOLY PICTURE, STATUE, AGIOS, PANAGIA, PANAGHIA, ALL-HLOY, MATER BOZE, MATI BOZE, APOSTLES DORMITION ASSUMPTION, CHURCH, ICONOLOGY, HAND-PAINTED, EGG TEMPERA, RELIEF DESIGN, SILVER GOLD, CHRISTIAN, BELIEVER, CHRIST, JESUS, JESUS CHRIST, BABY JESUS, MADONNA, MADONA, MARY, MARIA, HAIL MARY, ROSARY, PECTORAL CROSS, CHALICE, STICHARION, VESTMENTS, STOLE, SURPLICE, ALB, CHALICE, PATEN, CENSER, ECCLESIA, CROSS, ENGOLPION, ENKOLPION, SCUFFIA, KAMILAVKA, CASSOCK, ROBE, BISOP, PRIEST, DEACON, SEERVICE, MOLEBEN, AKATHIST, HYMN, ZEON, UKRAINIAN, RUSSIA, ART, ARTWORK, EMPIRE, BYZANTINE, BYZANTIUM, GREEK ORTHODOX ICON, TEMPERA, EGG YOLK, PAINTING PORTRAIT, IMAGE, LEGEND, 3 HANDS, 3 HANDED, THREE HANDED ICON OF VIRGIN MARY, ST JOHN OF DAMASCUS, ANTIOCHEAN, MELKITE, CATHOLIC EASTERN RITE, RUTHENIAN, BELO-RUS, BELORUSSIAN, UKRAINIAN CATHOLIC, UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX, ICONS, ICONOGRAPHY, SACRED IMAGE, MIRACLE, MIRACULOUS ICON, KIOT, SHRINE, PROSKINETARIA, BISHOP'S, PRIEST,S DEACON'S,CELEBRANT'S, CHASUBLE, POPE, PAPACY, ROME, ITALY, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, GREECE, ANTIOCH, SYRIA, HAND PAINTED, HAND WORKED, ANTIQUE, VINTAGE, OLD WORLD, OLD-WORLD