Icon - Quadripartite icon - Wood

Russian Orthodox icon of the Virgin Mary with four distinct iconographic types, probably from the 18th–19th centuries.

It is divided into four scenes:

Top left — Enthroned Virgin (en-throned Hodegetria type)
The Virgin appears as Queen, with a crown and behind a kind of balustrade or throne.
The Child blesses and holds a book.
It is a solemn variant of the Hodegetria type (the one that “shows the way”).
Top right — Eleousa Virgin (of tenderness)
Mother and Child with cheeks touching.
Expresses love and compassion.
Widely spread in Russia.
Bottom left — Classical Hodegetria Virgin
The Virgin holds the Child and presents Him to the faithful.
It is the most “didactic” form: Christ is the way of salvation.
Bottom right — Eleousa Virgin (another variant)
Similar to the top right one, but with a slight variation in posture.
More intimate, with the Child embracing the Mother.
Important details
The inscriptions in Cyrillic indicate specific Marian titles.
The golden background and the style of the faces point to the Russian tradition.
The wide wooden border (polé) suggests a domestic icon or private devotion.
What the set means
This type of icon is not accidental: it brings together different “facets” of the Virgin:

Queen and throne of God
Loving Mother
Spiritual guide
Close Intercessor

It is like a “visual synthesis” of Orthodox Marian theology.