The plaques on the icon case of St. Nicholas created by order of Evdokia Saburova

Abstract

The article analyses the program of the plaques placed on the icon case of St. Nicholas found in the Moscow Kremlin collection. The icon belonged to Evdokia Saburova (nun Alexandra after 1572), the first wife of Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich. The decorated icon was kept in the convent of the Intercession in Suzdal. Presumably the toreutic icon case was supplemented with plaques with carved images after 1598. On the narrow margins of the icon case are placed the plaques with the image of the Deisis, of ecumenical and Russian saints, as well as of the holy patrons of the customer and the Rurikid and Godunov dynasties. The article focuses on the analysis of images of saints of the two dynasties. On the icon case there are the holy patrons of the Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich (John Climacus and Mark of Arethusa), the nun Alexandra (St. Alexandra), Tsar Fedor Ivanovich (St. Theodore Stratelates and St. Martyr Hermias), Tsarina Irina (Great Martyr Irene) and Boris Godunov’s family (St. Boris, Mary Magdalene, Theodotus of Ancyra, Xenia of Rome). The decorated icon is not only a vivid example of the history of Russian medieval piety, the program also emphasizes the high status of the customer, who is related by kinship with both tsars’ dynasties.