Icon with the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, 1400–1500
Byzantine
Wood, painted, with gold ground; 17 1/2 x 16 5/8 in. (44.5 x 42.2 cm)
Bequest of Lillie P. Bliss, 1931 (31.67.8)
Byzantine
Wood, painted, with gold ground; 17 1/2 x 16 5/8 in. (44.5 x 42.2 cm)
Bequest of Lillie P. Bliss, 1931 (31.67.8)
Icons painted on wood were the principal objects of religious devotion in the last centuries of Byzantium. Identified by a Greek inscription as "the Purification," this icon shows the Virgin presenting the Christ Child to Simeon for the customary rite of purification at the temple. Like Simeon, the prophet Anna (between Joseph and Mary) recognized the child's divinity, as indicated by the Greek text on the scroll in her hand: "This child created Heaven and Earth."
