Byzantine icons
Byzantine does not mean old, and it does not mean gilded. It means the piece respects a canon: a fixed way of placing the hands, writing the name and treating the ground, settled more than a thousand years ago and unchanged since. An icon that departs from the canon stops being an icon and becomes a religious painting.
How to recognise it
- The letters are always there. ΙϹ ΧϹ beside Christ, ΜΡ ΘΥ beside the Virgin, and the name written above any saint. No inscription, no icon.
- The gold ground is not decoration: in an icon gold is not a colour, it is the absence of place and hour.
- The blessing hand traces the letters of the name with its fingers. It is not waving.
- Lines open towards the back instead of closing. The vanishing point is where you stand.
It is the safe choice for an Orthodox home, for an eastern parish, and for anyone who wants a piece that is not merely decoration.
7 pieces · From 65 €
Insured and tracked delivery. Shipping calculated in the basket. Fourteen days to return it without giving reasons.