Silver icon with Theotokos Portaitissa. Handmade silver icon on natural wood, made with 925ο silver. The natural wood used for the synthesis of the icon is beech (fagus) from Mount Athos, a wood that is receptive to aging techniques that give the appearance of vintage to the wood, without altering the depicted image.
The depictions of faces, hands, halos or other representations are hand-painted on canvas by specialized iconographers, according to the traditional techniques of Byzantine Iconography. The silver frame of the icon is held by nails to resemble the original icons. On the back side, the icon has a small metal ring made of horseshoe nails so that it can be hung.
The miraculous icon of Portaitissa was originally preserved in the Nice of Asia Minor. In the years of the Second Iconoclasm, a pious woman, who guarded the icon threw it into the sea, so that no one would find it and destroy it. The image in a miraculous way stood in the waves and headed west. Nowadays, the miraculous icon is found in the Holy Great Monastery of Iviron on Mount Athos. More about Virgin Mary Portaitissa.
