Icon - Feast day icon - Wood

It is a Russian Orthodox icon featuring the main feasts of the liturgical calendar, what in iconography is called an icon of the “Dodekaórton” (the Twelve Great Feasts) with the Resurrection of Christ in the center.

1. Central Scene

In the center appears the resurrected Christ descending into Hades and raising Adam and Eve.
This scene is the Resurrection according to Eastern tradition, known as the Anastasis.

Christ is depicted within a mandorla.
He is lifting Adam and Eve out of their tombs.
Around are kings and prophets of the Old Testament (such as David or Solomon).
This representation is very typical of Russian iconography.

2. Surrounding Scenes

Around there are small scenes that represent the great feasts of the Orthodox Church. By style and the inscriptions in ecclesiastical Slavic, several can be distinguished:

Top (left to right approximately):

Nativity of the Virgin Mary
Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple
Annunciation
Nativity of Christ

On the sides there are scenes such as:

Baptism of Christ
Entry of Christ into Jerusalem
Transfiguration

At the bottom, it is normally depicted:

Ascension of Christ
Pentecost
Dormition of the Virgin

3. Probable Era

By style:
Gold background with gold leaf
Ochre and green colors
Elongated figures
Ecclesiastical Cyrillic inscriptions
it is probably a Russian icon from the eighteenth–nineteenth century, painted in egg tempera on panel with gesso.

4. Function

This type of icon was used to:
teach the whole cycle of salvation
summarize the lives of Christ and the Virgin
be used in the iconostasis or in private devotion.
This is a Russian icon of the cycle of the Twelve Great Feasts with the Resurrection at the center.