Icon "Dormition of the Mother of God"

At the center of the icon, the Mother of God is shown on her deathbed, covered with red cloth. She lies with her hands folded on her chest, wearing a black tunic and a red maphorion; around her head is a round golden halo.

Behind the bed is Christ, in a red chiton and dark himation, looking at the Mother of God and holding in his arms a swaddled infant — a symbolic representation of the Mother of God's soul.

At the head and foot of the bed stand six and five Apostles respectively. John the Theologian is bent over the bed at the Mother of God's head. On either side of Christ stand two angels holding a cloth. Behind the scene of the Dormition (in the upper corners of the icon) are large red buildings with a blooming rose on the pediment.

The background of the icon is green. At the lower left is a rectangular opening for holy relics. Around the perimeter of the icon is a frame marked in black paint, with a golden floral ornament on its right and left sides.

The icon bears Church Slavonic inscriptions. At the top of the frame: "THE DORMITION OF THE MOST HOLY SOVEREIGN LADY, THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS AND EVER-VIRGIN MARY [...]"; at the bottom: "A TRUE LIKENESS ... OF THE MIRACLE-WORKING [ICON] ... WHICH IS ABOVE THE CHURCH GATES IN THE GREAT CHURCH OF THE KYIV PECHERSK [LAVRA] ...."

To the right of the opening for the relics is an inscription on the cloth covering the Mother of God's bed, now largely illegible.

Above the Mother of God's halo is the inscription "MR. ΘU"; beside Christ's halo, "IIS," "KHS."

The icon panel is reinforced with two vertical inset battens.

On the reverse of the icon is a period inscription (in Russian) recording instructions to a craftsman named Bulgakov: to make a white riza of fine repoussé work, to gild the garments of the Savior and the Mother of God and the brocade in the customary manner, to cut a simple gilded door, and to paint the crowns of the Mother of God, the Savior, and the two angels with rays. It specifies that the inscriptions at the top and above the relics be cut as accurately as possible, and that the piece be delivered to the Epiphany fair in 1848; a deposit of 64 rubles 17 kopecks had been received.

The icon was created in 1848.

The icon belonged to the collection of the Sloboda Ukraine Museum named after H. S. Skovoroda. During the Second World War it was evacuated and returned to Kharkiv in 1944.