Panagia, Christ Pantocrator

This panagia (a pectoral medallion worn by a bishop and bearing the image of Christ or the Mother of God) incorporates two techniques, "en ronde bosse" ("emal' po rez'be") and painted enamel. The high-relief figure of Christ Pantocrator is covered with a thickish opaque enamel. Engraving and chasing of the metal beneath the enamel not only delineates the figure, but it also helps to support the enamel. The medallion of Christ is bordered by rubies and is attached to the panagia by pins.

Repoussé trefoil flowers decorate the border, their centers created by small, roughly cut rubies and emeralds. In between these repoussé flowers the surface is covered with a striking medium-blue opaque ground, on which are painted small flowers and leaves similar to Usolsk flowers (see Walters 44.417 and 44.626 for comparisons). Arthur Voyce, one of the first American specialists on the Moscow Kremlin, has called these pinkish flowers "Turkish," probably because they are similar to those found on Turkish textiles of the period (Voyce, "The Moscow Kremlin," Berkeley, University of California Press, 1954, p. 91). The medallion hangs from a small gold cross mounted with an enameled figure of the Crucifixion.

The panagia was from the collection of Olga N. Bulygina and formerly belonged to her brother-in-law, Petr Abramovich Khvoshchinskii. She loaned it, along with 44 other objects, to the famous 1901 exhibition of antiquities from private collections, held at the Stroganov Institute in Moscow. It was exhibited again in the Moscow section in the St. Petersburg exhibition in 1904.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Petr Abramovich Khvoshchinskii [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Olga N. Bulygina, Moscow, [date of acquisition unknown] by inheritance [from her brother-in-law, Petr]; Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.