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The three small icons incorporated onto the tripartite crown of the wood-carved frame of the triptych depict the Holy Trinity in the middle, and Archangel Gabriel, and the Mother of God from the Annunciation scene on either side. The triptych panels under it depict five triads of saints in full-frontal postures. The central icon that is visible when the triptych is open reproduces the well-known, thirteenth century Sinai iconographic type of the Mother of God of the Bush flanked by the Prophet Moses and Saint Catherine, along with several other supplemental scenes. The left panel depicts the Three Hierarchs, and the right one Saint Nicephoros flanked bytSaints Pelagia and Agatha, who must be somehow linked to the donor of the icon Nicephoros Beau. The back side of the left panel, which comes forward once the triptych is folded, depicts Prophet Elijah between Sinai Saints John Climacus and Anastasios. The back side of the right panel depicts Saint Nicholas between Saints George and Sozon. The back side of the central panel is unadorned and bears only a long inscription with the date of the work, the dedication to the chapel of the Bush in Sinai, and an aphorism that refers to the dedication.


Tempera on wood
October 6th 1675
47 Χ 45 cm (open)
Offering of priest-monk Nicephoros Beau of Sinai to the Holy Bush chapel

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