Here Christ is depicted in the standard composition known as the Lord Almighty. He delivers a blessing and holds the open book of Gospels to John 13:34 “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye also love one another…” The entire icon overlaid with an exceptional repoussé and chased gilded silver riza. The halo and corners in shaded enamel, the Gospel text and title plaque in champleve enamel. Riza hallmarked Moscow, and with date mark of 1899-1908. Also marked with Cyrillic makers mark for Ivan Aleksievich Aleksiev, a noted Moscow silversmith active from 1876-1912. Icons with such finely crafted and ornately decorated covers (riza) such as this example were extremely expensive in their time and would only have been affordable to the very wealthy.
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