Sold
Russia, ca. 1890 CE. A pair of arched wood Royal Door wing panels for an iconostasis or icon screen within an Orthodox church, finely finished in egg tempera and gold leaf, displaying an Annunciation scene in the upper register with depictions of the Four Evangelists below, traditional iconography of Royal Doors. The gold background is ornately incised with an intricate floral pattern and the borders are decorated with enameled blooming foliage of pink, blue, green, ochre, and red hues. At the top are a pair of mounted silver-gilt six-winged seraphim. Size: 16.25″ W x 53″ H (41.3 cm x 134.6 cm)
The central doors of an iconostasis are called the Royal Doors. These doors are regarded as sacred and usually kept closed. It is only during the Divine Liturgy that the priest opens them to access the sanctuary (or bema) in order to consecrate the bread and wine. The Gospel is traditionally proclaimed from the Royal doors, and the priest carries the chalice with the body and blood of Christ through the Royal Doors of an iconostasis. Hence, the Royal Doors serve as symbolic point of entry and exit for the Word of God. For these reasons, the Royal Doors have traditionally been decorated with an icon of the Annunciation (displaying the Word of God in the form of Jesus) and/or images of the Four Evangelists (representing the written word of God)
Each of the Evangelists is depicted half-length, seated in his scriptorium, writing his Gospel. One can imagine them surrounded by shelves for volumes and scrolls, parchments, quills, erasing knives, and inks. Images of the evangelists derived from miniatures of illuminated Gospel books and Gospel lectionaries showing them at work in their scriptoria. These portrayals were oftentimes painted on the outside of the Royal Doors as we see here.
The writings of Matthew are typically shown to be inspired by an angel, or after the 14th century, by Sophia Wisdom, the wingless female figure with a scepter and crowned by a double star halo. The Church Fathers assigned each evangelist one of the four living creatures of the Apocalypse, and Matthew
