Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
The icon contains three separate scenes, depicting Christ, the Mother of God, and seven saints, respectively. Christ is shown as the Pantocrator in the upper left with an open Gospel and his hand in the two finger blessing form with gold and pink robes. To his left is a scene of the Protection of the Mother of God, celebrated on a major feast day in the Orthodox Church. The scene represents the appearance of the Mother of God, St. John the Baptist, and several other saints at Blachernae Palace in the 10th century, when Constantinople was under siege. The Mother of God is shown in blue robe with gold head covering under a green turret holding her white veil with black cross motifs, which according to tradition she soaked in her own tears and then spread over the people as a sign of protection. At the bottom of the icon appear seven saints of the Orthodox Church, including John, Peter, Holy Bishop Ignatius, Barbara, Mark, a monk, and Basil. The border decoration of the icon appears to be an imitation of cloisonné supplemented by a braided pattern.