Handmade icon with the Virgin Mary of Sorrows with Seven Swords in light blue background and oval shape. A unique handmade icon with enamel (smalt) made by the brotherhood in the Holy Monastery of Saint Elisavet.
Dimensions: 3.5 x 4.5 cm.
The miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary of the Seven Swords , four on the left and three on the right, relates to the prophecy of Saint Simeon the God-receiver, which is recorded by Evangelist Luke. The prophecy refers to the pain that Virgin Mary would have experienced at the time of her separation from her beloved Son, when he was crucified in front of her eyes. Μore about Virgin Mary of Sorrows.
The history of enamel (smalt) is literally dawning many centuries back, while the oldest samples are found in the civilization of Mycenae. The art of the smalt reached its zenith during the Byzantine times (8th – 12th centuries), when it was applied in ecclesiastical, as well as in luxurious items. Through the ages, smalt was considered an expensive and valuable piece of art, which was based on the use of grated glass – mass, colored with various metallic oxides. This mass is placed on a metallic surface and is baked in a special oven in temperature of 600 to 900 C. When the glass mass gets cold, it becomes solid, creating one merged mass with the metal. In that way, smalt can offer us pieces with bright, shining and vivid colors.
