The icon “Alexander Nevsky” was made of tin by stamping; the image was applied by chromolithography. The icon is a small plate bent at the edges for mounting on a board using four small nails. The icon board is solid and has a linen cloth placed between it and the plate — this was done during the manufacturing process.

In the central part of the icon, a full-length frontal figure of St. Alexander Nevsky is presented on a golden background. He was portrayed as a grand duke. The saint is dressed in a short green tunic, over which he wears armor and thin chain mail. An ermine mantle of bright crimson color is draped over his shoulders. On his feet are high red boots with a patterned stripe in the upper part.

The saint’s right hand with an open palm is placed against his chest, his left hand points to a throne covered with a tablecloth that has a wide embroidered border. On it lies a princely headdress of a hemispherical shape with a fur trimming, crowned with a cross. Alexander Nevsky’s gaze is turned upwards. His right leg is slightly pushed forward, which gives the whole figure an impulse of movement.

The floor is lined with light brown tiles. The background of the icon imitates a chased gold icon cover with multicolored enamel on the margins that form a frame. The background is decorated with geometric and floral decorative patterns. The icon was created in an academic style of painting. Its color scheme is based on a combination of bright shades of red, green and blue. The inner corners of the frame are rounded.

Chromolithography technique was widely used in the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Icons printed on tin were especially in demand, they were an example of picturesqueness, brightness, and entourage. In 1902, a decree of the Holy Synod banned monasteries and churches from printing the icons; the production of tinplate icons was also prohibited. The purpose of the increase of general censorship was to preserve the tradition of Russian icon painting. However, these decrees did not work. The tin icon continued to be produced up until the revolution.

Such iconography was widespread in the 19th century. Perhaps it went back to the image painted in 1836 by Vasily Kuzmich Shebuyev, a professor at the Academy of Arts, for the iconostasis of the Kazan Cathedral.