181. Icon The Lord Almighty in a silver frame. Semyon Galkin. Moscow, 1899-1908.

An object of home holiness, the icon The Lord Almighty was made at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in Moscow. The icon depicts the half-length image of the Lord Almighty in traditional iconography: with an open book in his left hand and a blessing gesture with his right hand. The image was painted by a professional master in the academic style typical of Moscow workshops of the late 19th century. The silver gilded frame, created by the workshop of the Semyon Galkin factory, is an example of the highest jewelry art of the late 19th century. A distinctive feature of the frame is the rich use of shining enamels, casting and complex hand engraving with a graver. The masters of the Galkin factory masterfully combined the techniques of chasing, sawing and canting, which gives the frame an exquisite depth and expressiveness. The icon is a striking example of the neo-Russian style, combining features of the historicism and Art Nouveau styles in Russian art at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Materials: Board, gesso, egg tempera. Frame: silver 84, gilding, enamel, casting, chasing, sawing, hand engraving with a graver, canting, grinding, polishing, finishing, mounting. Reverse side: velvet Hallmarks: Master`s name SG - Semyon Grigorievich Galkin. Silver assay mark 84 with the image of a woman`s head in a kokoshnik, facing left, initials of the assay master IL (Ivan Sergeevich Lebedkin, Moscow, appointed in 1899) Dimensions: Height: 31.5 cm. Width: 27.5 cm. Condition: The icon is in excellent collectible condition.Historical background: Galkin Semyon and Pyotr Grigorievich are brothers, owners of a trading house and a factory of gold and silver products, founded in 1890 and known until 1917. According to information from 1898, the factory had 48 workers and 12 teenagers. In the period 1895-1897, the brothers owned a jewelry store on Pokrovka Street, in the Shishelova house (Yauzskaya part), and the factory itself was located in Maryina Roshcha on Novy Shosse, 41. In 1897, the production volume was 50 thousand rubles. By 1904, the enterprise already employed 116 people, and in 1909 - 79 workers, with an annual turnover of 175 thousand rubles. In 1913-1917, the trading house was located on Sheremetyevskaya Street, building 11, in Maryina Roshcha.