Dimension drawing of the small icon: 200 mm high, 160 mm wide, 24 mm deep

Virgin Mary and Child Icon, Carved Solid Wood

Small: 200 × 160 mm / Cherry / None
£53.00
Skip to product information
Dimension drawing of the small icon: 200 mm high, 160 mm wide, 24 mm deep
1/7
  • Dimension drawing of the small icon: 200 mm high, 160 mm wide, 24 mm deep
  • Carved wooden icon of the Virgin Mary holding the Child cheek to cheek, set within a carved floral border
  • The icon hung on a dark grey wall above a floating shelf with a plant and a candle
  • Two hands holding the icon, showing its size against an adult's hands
  • The icon seen at an angle on a white wall, showing the depth of the carved frame
  • The icon hanging flat on a wall, seen straight on
  • Side view of the icon, showing the thickness of the panel and the pale wood edge
Virgin Mary and Child Icon, Carved Solid Wood

Virgin Mary and Child Icon, Carved Solid Wood

£53.00
Please choose the language for the inscription.
Please choose whether you want a wall hanger.

The Virgin holding the Child, cheek against cheek, in the tender type the tradition calls Eleusa. His arm reaches around her neck; her head inclines towards him. The whole scene is cut in relief from one panel, inside a deep border of scrolling flowers worked from the same piece of wood.

Three sizes and two species. Cherry is the warmer of the two, reddish and close-grained, and it darkens noticeably over the years; ash is paler and open-pored, and the grain runs visibly through the folds of the maphorion. Depth runs from 24 to 42 mm depending on size, which is what lets the two faces stay separate at a distance instead of merging into one shape.

The inscription can be set in the language you choose, and the back can be engraved with a dedication — a name, a date, a line of scripture. Made to order in our workshop in Romania.

In a household corner this icon traditionally hangs beside Christ Pantocrator, and often with the Holy Trinity after Rublev above or between them. The other panels with more than one figure are Saints Peter and Paul and the Archangels Michael and Gabriel.
Product details

A relief icon of the Virgin and Child, carved from a single panel of solid cherry or solid ash, with the floral border cut from the same piece. Three sizes. Made to order, ready to ship in 3–5 working days.

Two things are chosen at checkout rather than by variant: the language of the inscription carved on the face, and whether you want a wall hanger fitted. Both are free. If you order the back engraving, leave your text in the personalisation field — up to 200 characters.

The inscription is available in nineteen languages: Church Slavonic, Greek, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish. The photographs show the Church Slavonic monogram.
Dimensions and specifications
  • Wood: solid cherry or solid ash, one panel per icon, no glued joints
  • Small: 200 × 160 × 24 mm (7.9″ × 6.3″ × 0.9″), about 1 kg
  • Medium: 280 × 220 × 32 mm (11″ × 8.7″ × 1.3″), about 1.5 kg
  • Large: 360 × 280 × 42 mm (14.2″ × 11″ × 1.7″), about 2.5 kg
  • Tolerance: ±1 mm
  • Frame: carved floral border, worked from the same panel as the relief
  • Inscription: carved on the face, in any of nineteen languages — chosen at checkout
  • Back engraving: optional, up to 200 characters
  • Wall hanger: fitted on request, at no extra cost — choose at checkout
  • Made to order: 3–5 working days before dispatch
  • Sold individually
Mounting

An icon can stand or hang. Ordered without the hanger, the back is left flat and the icon sits on a shelf, a chest or an icon corner, leaning slightly against the wall. Ordered with the hanger, a fitting is recessed into the back so the panel sits flush.

  1. Decide the height first: an icon is meant to be seen from below, not level with the eye. Above head height is traditional and it also suits the carving, which reads better when the light falls across it from above.
  2. Use a fixing rated for the weight of the size you ordered — 1 kg for the small, 1.5 kg for the medium, 2.5 kg for the large — and for your wall type.
  3. Leave the screw head standing 4–5 mm proud of the wall and hook the fitting over it.
  4. Check the icon against the wall rather than against the ceiling; older ceilings are rarely level and the eye follows the frame.

Do not use adhesive strips. The weight and the depth of the panel put the load in the wrong place for them. Keep the icon away from a radiator, a stove, or a wall that gets direct afternoon sun — solid wood in one piece moves with humidity, and steady conditions are what keep a panel flat.
Materials & workshop

Cherry or ash, cut from a single panel. Cherry is the warmer of the two — reddish, close-grained, and it deepens in colour over years rather than months. Ash is paler and open-pored; its grain runs straight and visibly, so it shows through the drapery and gives the relief a second pattern under the carved one. The two behave differently under the tool, which is why they are priced differently.

Carved, sanded and finished in our own workshop in Roman, Romania. The floral border is not a separate moulding glued on: it is the original surface of the panel, left standing while the field around the figures is cut away, which is the reason the whole icon is one piece of wood and cannot come apart. Two faces touching is the hardest part of this composition — the Child’s cheek and the Virgin’s are worked at slightly different depths so that neither flattens into the other.
Care

Dust with a dry, soft brush rather than a cloth — a cloth catches on the deeper cuts of the floral border and leaves fibres behind. Never use water or a household cleaner on a carved panel.

Both species darken with time and light, cherry considerably more than ash. That change is even only if the icon is lit evenly, so avoid hanging it where one half sits in direct sun.

You may also like