Portable Icon with the Virgin Eleousa

Portable Icon with the Virgin Eleousa

Portable Icon with the Virgin Eleousa

Date:early 1300s
Geography:Made in probably Constantinople
Culture:Byzantine
Medium:Miniature mosaic set in wax on wood panel, with gold, multicolored stones, and gilded copper
Dimensions:Overall: 4 7/16 x 3 3/8 x 1/2 in. (11.2 x 8.6 x 1.3 cm)
Classification:Mosaics
Credit Line:Gift of John C. Weber, in honor of Philippe de Montebello, 2008

Images of the Virgin Eleousa, the Virgin of Compassion, developed in the later Byzantine centuries and profoundly influenced the art of the Latin West. Here, the intimate poses of the heads and hands display the warm emotional attachment of the Virgin and Child. The fifteenth-century Latin inscription on the reverse identifies the icon as the one that converted the fourth-century Saint Catherine of Alexandria to Christianity.

Provenance
Private Collection, London (by late 1980s); [ Sam Fogg Ltd., London ]

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