Description in Icons, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2004, cat. no. 91:
The Liturgical Eucharist
Part of Royal Doors (right side)
c. 1600, Moscow
NMI 317

Wood: Pine (Pinus sp.), egg tempera on
canvas, gilded silver halo/collar (tsata)
and cover on borders. Panel made of
single board without splines.

Inscriptions a t.: Hand-written text in
black ink in Cyrillic letters: s pravogo
k[ryl]o[sa] (to the right side)

PROVENANCE:Bukowskis Auktioner 1979 (?);
Ulf Abel; Gift of U. Abel 2001
CONSERVATION: Restored prior to entering
NM: Horizontal crack through centre of
panel mended; cleaned. Minor paint losses
along the horizontal crack
The six apostles shown here, receiving
the communion wine from the hand of
Christ, are, from left: Philip, Bartholomew,
Judas, James Alphaeus, Judas
Iscariot and Andrew. The inscription
on the lower part of the icon comes
from Matt. XXVI: 27–28.
The Liturgical Eucharist, otherwise
known as the Apostles’ Communion,
is a motif which already took shape in
Constantinople in the 6th century and
is mainly confined to Orthodox iconography.
1
This icon formerly had a compan -
ion piece, an inverted depiction of
Christ offering the communion bread
to six apostles.The two icons were prob -
ably positioned next to the Royal Doors
of the iconostasis, in the spandrels (sen).2
Theoretically speaking, the icons could
also have been placed on the altar or on
the archiepiscopal throne. But the
inscription on the reverse side suggests
that this icon was part of the iconostasis.
The word krylos used in the inscription
is an old Slavonic word meaning,
basically, “gallery” but also capable of
meaning “small gallery on the right
and left sides of the iconostasis”.3
1 Onasch 1981, p 36; Lex. d. chr. Ikonographie 1, p
174.
2 For a similar arrangement, also with Christ offcentre,
cf. Archangelsk 1995, pp 64, 144.
3 Cf. cat. no 103-108. Grateful thanks for this
information to M. Ljunggren.
[slut]