Need Help Identifying Icon

[maendem]

A contemplative monk gave me a Bulgarian icon of the Virgin Mary last Christmas. Mary is wearing a dark red robe and her arms are folded in front of her. The icon appears to be quite old, painted on a very thick slab of wood, and “housed” in a little hand-carved wooden “shrine,” with little doors that shut.

Are there any sites that might help me identify this icon, or perhaps date it if it is original? I am no longer in contact with the monk.

 

[a_pilgrim]

maendem,

Perhaps a posting on this site…

byzcath.org/cgibin/ultimatebb.cgi

…will be of value to you. There are a number of regular posters on the above-linked board who are very knowledgable with regard to icons and iconography, including many who actually write icons themselves.

Hope you find the information you seek!

 

[St_Benedict]

Or try

forums.catholic-questions.org/forumdisplay.php?f=50

 

[maendem]

Thank you both!

 

[Patchunky]

maendem:

A contemplative monk gave me a Bulgarian icon of the Virgin Mary last Christmas. Mary is wearing a dark red robe and her arms are folded in front of her. The icon appears to be quite old, painted on a very thick slab of wood, and “housed” in a little hand-carved wooden “shrine,” with little doors that shut.

Are there any sites that might help me identify this icon, or perhaps date it if it is original? I am no longer in contact with the monk.

Are there any other figures in the ikon?

Is there any writing on the ikon?

Unfortunately, appearances can be deceiving. It is VERY common to “age” ikons for the tourist market these days.

Greece, Bulgaria and Romania seem to have “cornered” the market.

One of my dearest friends bought an “antique” Greek ikon from a gift shop on board a Greek cruise ship. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it wasn’t an antique.

hope this helps…

 

[Joe_Monahan]

maendem:

A contemplative monk gave me a Bulgarian icon of the Virgin Mary last Christmas. Mary is wearing a dark red robe and her arms are folded in front of her. The icon appears to be quite old, painted on a very thick slab of wood, and “housed” in a little hand-carved wooden “shrine,” with little doors that shut.

Are there any sites that might help me identify this icon, or perhaps date it if it is original? I am no longer in contact with the monk.

Maendem,

While I am most appreciative of Benedict’s faith in my forum (the Eastern Christianity forum here at CA, to which he linked), Al’s advice to register and post your inquiry (preferably with a scanned image of the icon) at the Byzantine Forum is definitely your best bet. While a few of our posters here are very familiar with iconography (Father Ambrose, Padre Ambrose, John/Prodomos, and Neil/Irish Melkite, come most quickly to mind), there isn’t the level of expertise to be found at the Byzantine Forum. Your best bets for info there are Chtec, 70x7, or Iconophile, all of whom are themselves iconographers, or Anton, a native Bulgarian.

While identifying the icon would be relatively easy, given a depiction of it and/or more detail, dating it and authenticating it could be more difficult. As Patchunky says, the market for “genuine antique” icons that were created yesterday is ripe and lucrative.

You only mention the Theotokos, so I presume that there is no one else pictured. The coloration you describe, red robes, is proper to the tradition. You mentioned her arms as folded before her; I initially mis-read it and thought of her hands being folded before her, which would suggest the icon of the Sorrowful Theotokos or Weeping Virgin, a not unpopular presentation in Bulgarian iconography. A couple representations of it are pictured here and here.
Offhand, I can’t think of an icon of the Theotokos alone with arms folded, but there are hundreds of various popular representations, as well as probably twice that in locally venerated representations that are not well known.

Hope we have been of some assistance.

Joe

 

[maendem]

Joe Monahan:

Maendem,

While I am most appreciative of Benedict’s faith in my forum (the Eastern Christianity forum here at CA, to which he linked), Al’s advice to register and post your inquiry (preferably with a scanned image of the icon) at the Byzantine Forum is definitely your best bet. While a few of our posters here are very familiar with iconography (Father Ambrose, Padre Ambrose, John/Prodomos, and Neil/Irish Melkite, come most quickly to mind), there isn’t the level of expertise to be found at the Byzantine Forum. Your best bets for info there are Chtec, 70x7, or Iconophile, all of whom are themselves iconographers, or Anton, a native Bulgarian.

While identifying the icon would be relatively easy, given a depiction of it and/or more detail, dating it and authenticating it could be more difficult. As Patchunky says, the market for “genuine antique” icons that were created yesterday is ripe and lucrative.

You only mention the Theotokos, so I presume that there is no one else pictured. The coloration you describe, red robes, is proper to the tradition. You mentioned her arms as folded before her; I initially mis-read it and thought of her hands being folded before her, which would suggest the icon of the Sorrowful Theotokos or Weeping Virgin, a not unpopular presentation in Bulgarian iconography. A couple representations of it are pictured here and here.
Offhand, I can’t think of an icon of the Theotokos alone with arms folded, but there are hundreds of various popular representations, as well as probably twice that in locally venerated representations that are not well known.

Hope we have been of some assistance.

Joe

Thanks so much. Yes, its the arms that are folded (I would say crossed, but they are not intertwined; just lying over each other, almost as if she was carrying an infant, but not.)