Khakhuli triptych

The Khakhuli triptych (Georgian: ხახულის ხატი, khakhulis khati) is a partially preserved large repoussé triptych icon of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) created in medieval Georgia. It incorporates over 100 specimens of Georgian and Byzantine cloisonné enamel dated from the 8th to the 12th century. The icon is now on display at Art Museum of Georgia in Tbilisi.

The Khakhuli triptych derives its name from the medieval Georgian Khakhuli monastery (now Haho, Turkey), where it was originally kept. Early in the 12th century, the Georgian king David the Builder donated several precious stones to the icon while his successor Demetrius I had the icon, already revered as miraculous, transferred to the Gelati monastery near Kutaisi, western Georgia, where it was further refurbished and set in a gold frame with gilded silver wings under Queen Tamar. According to the medieval Georgian chronicles, Tamar particularly honored the icon and donated to it a Caliph’s standard seized in the battle of Shamkor in 1195.

The icon was stolen from Gelati in 1859, allegedly at the instigation of the Russian governor of Kutaisi, Count Levashov. Much of the gold and jewels were torn out and sold in Russia. Later, Levashov commissioned a metal reproduction from a Moscow goldsmith which was presented to the Gelati monastery in 1865. The original icon, as well as many of its medallions, subsequently entered the private collection of the Russian painter Mikhail Botkin and then the Hermitage Museum. The icon was only returned to Georgia in 1923 in a badly fragmented state.

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Wikipedia