This wonderful icon refers to the holy icon known as ‘Our Lady of Kazan’, or 'The Mother of God of Kazan'. The original Lady of Kazan icon was likely acquired from Constantinople in the 13th Century, after which the piece was brought to Russia. The icon, which had the highest possible stature within the Russian Orthodox Church, was stolen and likely destroyed in 1904. During its long life, the original icon was copied countless times; the present piece is a fine example of this fact.
The current icon is contained within a giltwood frame, which in turn is housed within a fitted wooden box with a glazed front door. The icon features a silver body richly adorned with engraved scrolled foliate forms. The silver is pierced on three occasions: once for the face of Our Lady, once for the face of the infant Christ, and once for the hand of Christ. These details are painted on wood and inset into the pierced silver surface.
The silver is stamped ‘84’, which indicates the purity of the silver, and is dated 1872 in Latin script. A second silver mark in Cyrillic script, likely belonging to the maker, is indistinct.