A TRIPTYCH OF THE MOTHER OF GOD WITH SAINTS SERAPHIM OF SAROV AND SERGIUS OF RADONEZH IN A WOODEN FRAME OLOVYANISHNIKOV & SONS MANUFACTORY, 1908-1914, OKLAD STAMPED WITH MAKER'S MARK OF IVAN BUTUZOV IN CYRILLIC, MOSCOW, 84 STANDARD Extended 40.5 by 49 cm, closed 40.5 by 27.5 cm. Related literature: For similar icons, see A.K. Lazuko, Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov, Leningrad, 1990, p. 55. Museum Catalogue, Russkii Stil. Sobranie Gosudarstvennogo Istoricheskogo Muzeia (Russian Style: Collection of the State History Museum), Moscow, 1998, p. 103, No. 225. The folding triptych is an outstanding early 20th century work in the Art Nouveau style, and associated with three names that brought about a revolution in Russian ecclesiastical art. The icon of the Mother of God at the centre of the triptych reproduces an image painted in 1887 by the renowned Russian artist Viktor Vasnetsov (1848–1926) for the apse of St. Vladimir’s Cathedral in Kiev. The depiction of Sergius of Radonezh on the right-hand panel also reproduces an 1882 icon by Vasnetsov for the Church of the Vernicle on Savva Mamontov’s Abramtsevo estate. The Venerable Sergius of Radonezh icon in the Sovereign tier referred both to Abramtsevo’s geographical proximity to the Trinity Lavra of St Sergius and the aesthetic preferences of artists in Mamontov’s circle. The icons at Abramtsevo were the first in the history of the Orthodox Church to be painted in a realist manner and anticipated Vasnetsov’s work at St. Vladimir’s Cathedral in Kiev. The third panel depicts the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, canonised in 1903. The carved oak frame was designed by Sergei Vashkov (1879–1914), chief artist at the firm of “P.I. Olovyanishnikov & Sons”. The closest comparable carved oak frame is that of the Mother of God of the Sign icon from the 1900s collection in the State History Museum. Vashkov was an architect, artist and famous master of applied decorative religious art. His work attracted the attention of the well-known Moscow church plate manufacturers, Olovyanishnikov & Sons.