Icon - Three Hierarchs - Wood

The icon presents at the center the Three Great Hierarchs and Doctors of the Orthodox Church, celebrated together in the Byzantine synaxarion: Saint Gregory the Theologian (Стый Григорій Богослов) on the left, depicted with richly decorated gold episcopal vestments in floral motifs; Saint Basil the Great (Стый Василій Великій) in the center, with a long beard and the blessing gesture; Saint John Chrysostom (Стый Іѡаннъ Златоустъ) on the right, with the Gospel in hand. All three saints hold a finely miniated Gospel and wear the episcopal liturgical robe (sakkos and omophorion).
In the upper register, inside a stylized cloud, is depicted the Trinity of the New Testament (Paternità - Otechestvo): God the Father (Gospod' Savaof), Jesus Christ seated at His right and the Dove of the Holy Spirit, surrounded by host-choirs of red and blue Cherubim and Seraphim.
At the feet of the saints is a large inscription:
Написася сія ст́ая икона въ пос. Клинцахъ ҂аѡчкс г. ноябрѧ кє днѧ йконописц. Василіемъ Пе: Артемьевымъ

“This holy icon was painted in the city of Klintsy, in the year 1893, on November 25, by iconographer Vasilij Artem'ev.”

The explicit indication of the city of Klintsy is of great collecting interest: Klintsy was one of the most famous and renowned centers of Old Believers (Staroobrjadcy) icon production in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Russia, celebrated for the quality of gilding and for the fineness of the miniature details of fabrics and faces (melkonopisnaja technika).
The background is entirely covered with a rich sheet of real gold leaf, finely incised with a red fillet along the edges. The halos are well defined and the identifying inscriptions of the Saints (Titloi) are handwritten in black ink according to traditional orthography. The vestments’ fabrics display exceptional workmanship in gold wire embroidery (inokop') and damascened decorations.
On the back the icon retains its mounting/covering in period paper with golden spiral ornamental motifs and inserts of period newspaper in pre-revolutionary Cyrillic characters, an original element guaranteeing authenticity and dating of the support. Present is the suspension ring in period metal.
Some small defects at the corners.