CIBORIUM
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The ciborium (canopy over the altar), now standing in the Chancel of the Church of the Twelve Apostles, originates from the Kremlin’s Chudov Monastery, which was demolished in the 1930s. The canopy was designed by the royal master Peter Remezov, who served as a draft icon painter in Tsarina’s Chamber from 1614 till 1650.
Ciborium is known in Russia from the time when Rus was christened. This one stands on four pillars and is fixed with chains to the vault. The drum of the central dome, crowning the ciborium, is held by two hands with long graceful fingers, hiding chains’ mounting. This interpretation corresponds to the iconography inside the canopy—the Virgin and Child as the image of the divine Incarnation, and the prophets who predicted the coming of Jesus to earth. St Germanus (patriarch of Constantinople from 715 to 730), explaining the meaning of canopy and its purpose in a church, wrote “Ciborium corresponds to the place where Christ was crucified, as that place and the tomb where He was buried were near each other. It stands in a church in order to compactly show the crucifixion, the entombment and the resurrection of Christ. It also corresponds to God’s Ark of the Covenant, which is said to contain the Holy of Holies and the Holy unto the Lord, on two sides of which God ordered to place two Cherubs”
Four pillars that hold the canopy over the altar end up with capitals in the shape of curling acanthus-type leaves. A rectangular corbel is fixed to the pillars at the base of the marquee; an ornamental Old Russian script, which is carved on a black background, tells that this canopy was made by order of Tsar Mikhail Romanov for the Chudov Monastery. There are illustrations of Our Lady and Child and the Prophets on the inside of the canopy, but one can see them only when standing in close proximity to the altar—so, first and foremost they are meant to be seen by the priest during the Consecration. The illusion of height is made up of the perspective construction of the ciborium and its’ pillars, and figures drawn inside it. The Prophets’ figures are drawn in consideration of their visual perception in perspective foreshortening. The edges of the canopy are the constructive elements of the paintings—that allows telling that they were made simultaneously in 1641.
Painting inside the ciborium
The “sky” of the ciborium illustrates the image of Our Lady and Child, sitting on the throne and holding Christ with her both hands. He is making the blessing with two fingers, while the left hand is lowered. The throne has a hooped back, carved sides and a high pedestal. The clothes are painted in dark blue-green, reddish-brown, red and reddish ochre. A Cherub and a Seraph are painted with oil to the right and to the left from the Virgin. The background, the sidewalls of the pedestal, the enveloping robe of Our Lady, gold hatching and himation (robe) of Christ are painted with silver and coated with yellow paint; this technique was commonly used in painting.
