SPECIAL ORDER ITEM. PLEASE ALLOW 2-3 WEEKS FOR DELIVERY. NOTE: Special Order Items are not returnable unless damaged.This modern beautiful silver-plated icon of Three Handed Virgin is hand-painted on a wood base with a silver-plated cover with incredible ornate gold and silver accents. The entire icon is overlaid with a beautifully finished highly detailed repousse (high relief) gold and silver-plated metallic cover (also known as a riza) with an attached 24-carat gold-plated halo. The riza uses a scrolled floral pattern to accent the subjects and covers the less important areas of the icon. Velvet backing. The ?Three-Handed? Mother of God kept at the Serbian Monastery of Khilandari on Mt. Athos is the prototype for this icon. In the 8th century the anti-iconoclast John of Damascus? hand was cut off as punishment for letters which he did not write. He took his severed hand to an icon of Mother of God and prayed that he would be healed so that he could continue to write against the iconoclasts. He was healed and in gratitude had a commemorative silver hand affixed to the icon along the lower central section. Later painters copying this image often misunderstood the added hand and subsequently painted a third hand on the Virgin as shown on this icon. On 18th and 19th C icons of this type it is common to find this error.
