Russian 3 Leaf Icon Depicting Church Feasts, Bible Story, Based

Twelve scenes from the church year, hinged to fold shut and travel.

This three leaf icon depicting church feasts and Bible stories comes from Russia, about 1820, and is bronze with enamel. Folding metal icons let Orthodox believers bring the great feasts of the church on a journey or keep them in a small corner of the home. Each leaf holds four tiny scenes crowded with figures and buildings, labeled in raised script along the top. Pale blue and dark enamel settle into the backgrounds around the gleaming metal. On its base, it is ten and a half inches wide and seven and a quarter high.

It closes. The year goes on.