Deesis or Deisis icons (from the Greek δέησις — “supplication”) in Byzantium were classified as votive images — they were ordered by a particular person or group of people who prayed for intercession. In Russia, Deesis is the most important focal point of the iconostasis.

The central, unchanging core of Deesis is the figure of Christ, to His right stands the Mother of God, and to His left — John the Baptist. The icon can be limited to these three main images, or it can be extended: after prayers to the Mother of God and John the Baptist, appeals to disembodied forces, apostles, and saints follow. In this case, the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and the locally venerated saints stand behind the Mother of God and John the Forerunner.

The spiritual centers of Kargopol were considered to be the St. Macarius Khergozero Hermitage and the Alexander Oshevensky Monastery; the most revered local saints were Macarius of the Yellow Water Lake and the Unzha and Alexander Oshevensky.

The Venerable Macarius of the Yellow Water Lake (1349–1444) was born in Nizhny Novgorod and as a boy secretly went to the Pechersk Monastery, where he took monastic vows. Having become famous as an ascetic and burdened by this fame, he settled in a cave near the Yellow Water Lake near the Volga River and a few years later established a monastery in the Name of the Most Holy Trinity. After the territory near the Yellow Lake was captured by the Tatars, Saint Macarius and his brethren moved to the Galich lands and founded a new monastery near the town of Unzha, where he passed away. During his lifetime, the saint was known as a healer. After his death, he continued to heal people with his prayers and saved cities from Tatar raids multiple times.

The Venerable Alexander Oshevensky was born in the vicinity of Belozersk through the prayers of his mother and the holy intercession of Cyril of Beloozero, whom he revered as his patron all his life. Having taken monastic vows, he, like Saint Macarius, soon began to be burdened with ascetic glory and asked for a blessing to become a hermit. By a miraculous instruction, he chose a place for a new Oshevensky Monastery on the Churyuga River and consecrated the first church in honor of Nicholas the Wonderworker. He kept taking care of the monastery even after his death; during the erection of the new church of St. Nicholas, the relics of St. Alexander Oshevensky were found.

The exhibit comes from the Church of the Icon of Our Lady of Smolensk (Maloshalskaya Volost, Kargopolsky Uyezd). The Deesis tier was part of the iconostasis and was above the local tier, that is, it was the second tier of the high iconostasis.

In 2020, the icon was restored at the All-Russian Art Research and Restoration Center named after Academician Igor Grabar in Moscow.