Museum Founder Gordon B. Lankton explains the significance of this icon to the Museum’s history.

When the Soviet Union broke up I went over there to start a plastic manufacturing plant for the Nypro Company, and having not been to Russia before I did some sightseeing, and I went to a flea market, and saw an icon just laying there on the ground, and there were several others. And the people were so destitute at the time they were selling their treasures, so I bought one for $20, and took it home just to try to understand it.

This icon of St. Nicholas is the one that Mr. Lankton describes purchasing at the Izmailovo market on his first trip to Moscow. This icon comes from Kholui, a professional icon painting village that mass produced icons. While the quality of the painting is not as refined as others in our collection, it is a good example of a 19th century icon that continues the old traditions that Kholui painters called the "Greek" style. Its tin oklad is typical of ordinary mid-19th century covers. As in all Russian oklads, the hands and faces of the figures beneath remain uncovered, to facilitate veneration. The three small figures on the sides of St. Nicholas are the patron saints of the family who commissioned it, or the saints for whom the family members were named. The oklad and these figures indicate the icon’s preciousness to the family.