RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ICON OF THE VIRGIN AND CHILD
ATTRIBUTED TO SEMYON GALKIN, MOSCOW, CIRCA 1908-1917
painted panel mounted in a silver and gilt oklad, modelled as ‘Our Lady of Kazan’ with the Theotokos' head inclined towards the child, her embossed and chased maphorion mantle with a star-shaped cross, his hand raised in benediction, the oklad struck to the halo, mantle and lower edge of the frame with makers mark SG in cyrillic and a Moscow Kokoshnik mark, one edge incised ‘N38367, 6156/¾’, with an orange velvet backing, mounted inside a fitted walnut box with glazed lid, the icon 22.5cm high, 18cm wide
28cm high, 24cm wide, 6cm deep
Note: This icon was not known to have been purchased by Robert Bogdan during his lifetime and was likely a piece he inherited. The possible origin could have been from either his maternal or paternal family, as both had links to Imperial Russia before the revolution. His grandparents and infant father, Andrew Bogdanovitch, fled to Britain in the woke of the revolution in 1917. It is possible that the icon was taken with them as a possession of the Bogdanovitch family, who had links to the Imperial government and navy. Another possible source is his great aunt, Lettie Muriel Burnett (1880-1966), sister of his grandmother Dorothy Irvine (nee Burnett) of Barra Castle. She was known to have worked in the Tzars Imperial Palace of Tsarskoye Selo, located south of Saint Petersburg, around circa 1905-1915. After returning to Britain, she worked as Mistress General at the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Roehampton. An e-book drawn from a compilation of her letters from her younger life was published under ‘For every Catholic. For every Christian. Lettie Muriel Burnett 1880-1966’. It is possible it was brought back by her as a gift or possession from her time associated with the Imperial household and was then part of the contents of Barra Castle that he inherited.For a comparable example see Sotheby's, London, Russian Works of Art, Fabergé and Icons, 30 Nov 2021, Lot 649, a silver gilt icon of St Alexey the Metropolitan of Moscow, by Semyon Galkin of the same period. The icon is of almost identical size, the border is the same, the painting of the face and hands are very similar and the embossing and chasing of the robes are comparable. The three sets of marks are also stamped in a similar placement to the oklad.