A DEVOTIONAL RUSSIAN ICON OF THE DEISIS. The word Diesis is Greek in origin and is generally translated as meaning prayer or supplication. In iconography it relates to images which depict Christ at center with the Virgin Mary and St. John the Forerunner (Baptist) on either side, interceding with Him on behalf of humanity, beseeching Him for mercy. While the offered icon clearly reflects the 16th century Moscow style, it was most likely executed in the 19th century, perhaps for an Old Believer as the blessing hand of St. John is configured in the manner favored by them. In his autobiographical trilogy, My Apprenticeship, author Maxim Gorky (1868-1936) writes about working in an icon workshop in Nizhniy Novgorod, which specialized in painting icons in the old style to satisfy the demand for "pure" icons from the Starovery who came to the Nizhny Novgorod market each weekend. Gorky even relates that not only was it common to paint an icon on an old board in the old style as favored by the Old Believers, but it was also not uncommon to try and artificially age them by placing them in the chimney so as to darken, thereby giving the appearance of an icon which had yet been corrupted by Western influences. 4.1 inches x 10.4 inches (10.3 cm x 26.5 cm).