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Featured And New Acquisitions

Two Sided Diptych with Selected Feasts and Saints 

R2022.04 
Two Sided Diptych with Selected Feasts and Saints 
18th Century 
Paint on wood 
Ethiopia 
Museum purchase, funds by the Gordon B. Lankton Collections Fund 
Sold by Jackson’s Auctioneers, Cedar Falls, US, 2022 

This icon is an exciting addition to the Museum’s growing collection of Coptic and Ethiopian icons. The central panel has two sides: one featuring the Anastasis, the Crucifixion, and selected scenes; the other is of the Mother of God flanked by Archangels. Both of the leaves or wings feature a Warrior Saint. While the figures are labeled in Ge’ez, the ancient language used for liturgical purposes in Ethiopia, they have not yet been translated.    

Icon in Three Registers 

R2023.02 
Icon in Three Registers 
19th Century 
Egg tempera on wood with metal basma 
Palekh, Russia 
Museum purchase, funds provided by the Gordon B. Lankton Collections Fund 
Sold by Schuler Auktionen AG, Zürich, CH 
In a private collection, CH 

This piece is a fragment of a hagiographic icon that would have depicted the story of a famous, miracle-working image of the Mother of God called the Tikhvinskaya. The scenes in this icon, which have yet to be identified, are painted in exquisite miniature style for which the Palekh School is renowned.  

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We are continually adding to our website images and information about the more than 1,000 icons and objects in our collection. You can sort these by place of origin.

Please feel free to use and share images from our collection. To order an image and for our policy on commercial use of images, please go our photo policy.

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Russia

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Greece

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Ethiopia

WHAT IS AN ICON?

An icon is regarded by the faithful as a bridge between heaven and earth. Its visual language reflects the culture and tradition of its creator. 

What is an icon?