3-002-736 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple and the Virgin of the Burning Bush, c1598. This rare double-sided icon was most likely commissioned by Tsar Boris Godunov (r. 1598-1605) as a gift for a church in Jerusalem, where it was kept until the mid-20th century. It would have been displayed for veneration on the feast days of the Virgin's Presentation in the Temple (November 21) and of the Prophet Moses (September 4). One side of the panel shows the Presentation (Protoevangelium of James 7:2-8:1) between images of the Virgin's parents Joachim and Anna (right), and John the Baptist's parents Zechariah and Elisabeth (left). Five Old Testament figures in the upper border, Jeremiah, Daniel, Isaiah, Moses, and Aaron, hold scrolls with prophecies referring to the Virgin.