Panagiarion with the Virgin and Angels at Mamre

A Panagiarion with the Virgin Theotokos and the Three Angels at Mamre.

Russian, circa 1500.

Measures 7.3 x 6.8 x 3.1cm when closed.

Carved from boxwood with niello and silver mounts, displayed on a bronze display stand.

In generally good condition considering its age, the left side of the diptych has a historical break.

The left hand side of the panagiarion depicts:

The Virgin Theotokos (from the Greek ‘????????’, translating as ‘Mother of God’), an adjective attributed to the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. The Virgin is shown with the Christ child upon her lap and surrounded by seraphim. This theme is also recurrent in Orthodox representations of this liturgical object and is explained by religious Tradition. Note the presentation of the Christ child in front of the stomach of the Virgin, perfectly in symmetrical position in relation to the scene. This Orthodox iconographic tradition differs completely from Western representations.

The scene is surrounded by a Greek inscription called the ‘Axion estin’, the name used to designate a hymn to Mary, in the Divine Services of the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches. A translation of the inscription reads: "It is truly right to bless thee, O Theotokos, ever blessed, and most pure, and the Mother of our God. More honorable than the cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the seraphim. Without corruption thou gavest birth to God the Word. True Theotokos, we magnify thee”. It is this same text that surrounds the right part of our diptych. This ode was written in the 8th century by Côme de Maïouma; Tradition reports that in 882, a monk of Mount Athos would have received the visit of the archangel Gabriel who would have given him an engraved tablet with the text that constitutes the 1st part of the hymn, which was presented to him as the praise of the angels addressed to the Mother of God.

The right hand side of the panagiarion depicts:

The philoxenie of Abraham (The Hospitality of Abraham, Genesis, 18, 1-15). One day on the plains of Mamre, Abraham and Sarah were visited by three strangers. Abraham offered them food and drink, as was customary in the Jewish faith. They revealed themselves as angels and said that they brought a message from God that Sarah would become pregnant. She did, and in time gave birth to Isaac.

The guests sitting at his table are the Trinitarian angels of the Old Testament. The angels represent the Holy Trinity: on the left stands the "Son", in the center the "Father", on the right the "Holy Spirit".

In Christianity, the Trinity (or Holy Trinity) is the one God in three distinct persons also called hypostases, and which do not contradict the concept of a lone God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, equal, having the same divine substance. The Son, the "Word" or "Word" of God (Jesus Christ), who was "with God," is the One through whom the Father created heaven, earth, and all things.

Abraham and his wife Sarah appear at the back of the scene.

The scene bears the inscription ‘HAYIA TRIAC’ (AYIA TRIAC - Greek) which translates as the ‘Holy Trinity’.

The exterior scenes of the diptych represent Christ as the man of sorrows and the Dove of the Holy Spirit, clutching a bible and seated upon a throne, each scene is surrounded by a profusion of carved foliage.

Panagiaria are diptych pendants composed of two disks, they derive their name from a popular term for the Virgin, the Panagia (All-Holy One). It is intended to carry the bread offered during the ceremony of the Elevation of the Panagia, which takes place after the meal in the monastic refectories or in the course of the Orthros service.

Comparisons can be made with a Panagierion in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Accession Number: 34.163a-c. It is catalogued as: Panagiarion with the Virgin and Child and the Three Angels at Mamre (interior) and the Crucifixion and Three Church Fathers (exterior).
Russian, circa. 1500 or later.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/467608?

Other comparable examples include (and are not limited to):

The Metropolitan Museum of Art,Accession Number: 17.190.129.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/464010?pg=29&rpp=90&ft=russia&pos=2609

The Louvre, Paris, Inventory number: OA 132.
https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010097101

The Sergiev Posad State History and Art Museum, Russia, Inventory number: 310.
http://en.museum-sp.ru/include/eksponat_detail.php?EID=852&sphrase_id=933

Vatopedi Monastery, Mount Athos, Greece
https://mapping.apjan.co/item/the-panagiaria-of-vatopedi-monastery-mount-athos