St. Nicholas

Object/Artifact

-

Purdue University Galleries

Name/Title

St. Nicholas

Entry/Object ID

2005.02.120

Description

Enamel painting on ceramic tile (finift) with gold border. The finift depict St. Nicholas clothed in a richly colored miter crown of green, purple, and golf. His robes are made of these same colors, as is the gospel book he holds in one hand. The other hand is raised in blessing near his silver and gold stole. St. Nicholas is shown with short white hair and a medium length white beard and a thin halo graces his head.

Collection

Betsy Scheuring Icon Collection

Acquisition

Accession

2005.02

Source or Donor

Betsy Scheuring

Acquisition Method

Gift

Credit Line

Gift of Betsy Scheuring

Made/Created

Date made

1900

Place

City

Rostov

Region

Yaroslavl Region

Country

Russia

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Secondary Object Term

Icon

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Symbol, Religious

Nomenclature Sub-Class

Religious Objects

Nomenclature Class

Ceremonial Objects

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Dimensions

Height

4-1/8 in

Width

3-1/4 in

Exhibition

Spirit Made Tangible: The Scheuring Icon Collection (2006)

Interpretative Labels

Label Type

Cultural/Historical Context

Label

For the biography of St. Nicholas, see 2005.02.066. St. Nicholas is pictured here giving a benediction while holding a Bible and wearing a crown framed by a halo. The figure takes up only the inner one-third of the ceramic oval, a scale associated with the finift craft of very fine and expensive craftsmanship. In Russia, such pieces were made almost exclusively in Rostov, which quickly became famous for its finifts. The wide range of colors and the well proportioned, three-dimensional rendering of the figure exhibit western artistic influence. The gold, green, red, and purple hues seen against a white background make this icon very elegant.