18th century Greek triptych.

18th century Greek triptych.
"Mother of God of Cyprus and the Christ Child, side panels with four saints and St. George and St. Michael on horseback".
Tempera and gesso on panel.
Finely chiseled silver oklad with floral motifs.
No visible silver marks.
Oklad not mounted to the icon (loose). Old retouches, crackles due to age.
Measurements: 31,5 x 46 x 4 cm; 24 cm (closed).
A triptych - or ‘three-fold’, is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works. The middle panel is typically the largest and it is flanked by two smaller related works, although there are triptychs of equal-sized panels.Icons cannot be compared to other works of art in the usual sense of this word. Icons are not paintings. Paintings, with their features and coloring, speak of men and events of concrete reality. Icons, on the other hand, do not represent, but constitute in themselves another world. And they do so with special means of representation, developed over the centuries. In them, color plays a significant role, that of a symbolic language that must express not the color of things, but their luminosity, a light that comes from beyond the physical world. The golden spaces of the icons embody this non-terrestrial light, and the golden background symbolizes the space that is "not of this world". In the icons there are no shadows, because in the kingdom of God everything is filled with light. In them there is also no usual space, just as there are no conventional events. The icon is an open window to a world of another nature, but this window opens only for those who possess spiritual vision.