Tuesday, December 26, 2006
HELP !
I received the Christmas present I really wanted--an icon. The catalog from which it was purchased described it this way:
OL of Czestochowa. Imported from Poland. Delicately hand-painted & assembled. Numbered and dated with a certificate of authenticity.
It was featured in the catalog under the heading "Icons".
Here is a picture of it.
It is very beautiful. The face and hands of the Blessed Virgin and the child Jesus are painted. Nothing else is, however. The icon is primarily silver and copper,and in the base relief style described this way in Webster's 1828 Dictionary:
BASS-RELIE'F, n. In English, base-relief. [See Lift and Relief.]
Sculpture, whose figures do not stand out far from the ground or plane on which they are formed. When figures do not protuberate so as to exhibit the entire body, they are said to be done in relief; and when they are low, flat or little raised from the plane,
the work is said to be in low relief. When the figures are so raised as to be well distinguished, they are said to be bold, strong, or high, alto relievo. [See Relief.]
A tag attached indicates this is icon #130807 made in November 2005. The primary medium is silver and copper, which stands above the painted face and hands. A web address on the tag took me to the company that describes this artwork here.
I have never seen anything like it. It is not an icon as I know icons. It would certainly appear not to have been "written" with all of the prayer and prescribed technique that word implies. So now I'm wondering is this a style of art that really is an "icon" technique used in Europe? But more importantly on the practical side, I need to know this week whether the silver and copper in this icon will tarnish, and whether I can hang it in the kitchen with the inevitable cooking orders and grease that go with a kitchen? Most importantly how would I go about cleaning it?
Does anyone know anything about this technique? If it is to be returned, we must do it this week.
