AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE RUSSIAN SILVER ICON RELIQUARY TRIPTYCH OF SAINT ANNA KASHINSKAYA, 7TH ARTEL,

AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE RUSSIAN SILVER ICON RELIQUARY TRIPTYCH OF SAINT ANNA KASHINSKAYA, 7TH ARTEL, MOSCOW, 1908-1917, IN THE ART NOUVEAU TASTE. The central section surmounted by a multi-arched finial crest decorated with raised floral forms and cross flanked by cherubim and seraphim and the top set with five cupolas. Below, at center, within a recessed quatrefoil is a star-shaped glazed reliquary surrounded by four finely chased seraphim and cherubim. The raised outer border engraved in Cyrillic with a slight variant of a repeated line in the Akathist to Anna Kashinskaya: “Rejoice, Holy Venerable Mother Anna.” The left hinged wing with recessed arched reserve engraved with the Guardian Angel and the similarly designed right wing engraved with, The Holy Great Princess Anna Kashin, who delivers a blessing of the type favored by the Old Believers and holds a scroll upon which is engraved with text from Psalm 91:13 in the Salvic version, "The righteous shall flourish as a palm [tree]..." The verso of each side wing ornately decorated with a flowering plant set with a Chi Rho symbol within a circle on the base. Hallmarked Moscow, 1908-1917, maker’s mark of the 7th Artel, and 84 silver standard. 8.25 inches x 10 inches (21 x 25.5 cm).

Princess Anna Kashin (1280 -1368) was a Russian princess from the Rurik Dynasty. In 1324, she married Prince Mikhail of Tver and together they had five children. After the death of her husband, Anna carried out an old desire "In silence to work only for God." She took vows in Sofia's Monastery in Tver and adopted the name Evfrosiniya. In 1365, the youngest son of the princess, Vasiliy, her only child remaining alive by that time, entreated his mother to move to his principality. The Upensky Monastery was built in Kashin, and there the saint accepted the schema with the name of Anna. She died of old age on 2 October 1368, and was buried in the cathedral temple of the Blessed Virgin.

The name of Princess Anna was forgotten for many centuries. It was during the 1611 siege of Kashin by Lithuanian troops that Anna appeared to Gerasim, Sexton of the Dormition Cathedral, and it is said that she prayed to the Savior and Our Lady for deliverance of her city from foreigners. Her relics were reported to work miracles. The synod of the Russian Orthodox Church convened in 1649 and declared her relics worthy of a universal homage. The princess was glorified as a saint. 28 years later, Patriarch Joachim addressed the Moscow Synod with a suggestion to decanonize her because of the uncommon veneration and esteem for Anna among the Old Believers. It was traditionally thought the Old Believers chose Anna as their palladium because the princess was represented on icons as making the Sign of the Cross with two fingers, as the Old Believers practiced, rather than with three, as official church policy required after Patriarch Nikon in 1656. However, writings used by the Old Believers show that one of the reasons they venerated her so highly was that her incorrupt body, on display, showed her hand in the two-fingered Sign of the Cross favored by the Old Believers, vindicating their stance. Despite numerous efforts of the Church authorities to "correct" the situation, her hand always went back to the same two-fingered position. In response, Patriarch Joachim removed the relics of Anna from public view. In 1678, the Grand Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, decanonized Anna of Kashin permitting only prayer for her. It was not until 1909 that the Russian Orthodox Church glorified Anna again, which is very likely the time this reliquary icon triptych was produced.

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