The panagia is a small medallion suspended from a chain and worn by bishops on their chest. The panagia from the museum’s collection includes several images at once. These are the Crucifixion with Bystanders, Our Lady of the Incarnation, the Old Testament Trinity, the Image of Edessa, and the Selected Saints. The medallion was made in Solvychegodsk workshops by Stroganov craftsmen.

Translated from Greek, the word panagia means “the Most Holy” or “the All-Holy”. In the 15th –17th centuries, small relief icons of various shapes with a finial became especially widespread in Russia.

In the inventories of churches and monasteries, such icons were called “pectoral”, “folding”, “travel”, “bishop”, and “neck” icons. The name “neck icon” appeared because such icons were worn as amulets and jewelry around the neck, accompanied the owner on the road, and were kept at home, in cross rooms and monastic cells.

This is a round panagia with two panels connected by a hinge and bone-carved images framed in a silver case. It features two bone medallions with the images painted black.

On the front side in the center, there is a relief image of the Crucifixion with four bystanders depicted in full-length inside a circle against the background of the Wall of Jerusalem. The central image is surrounded by 12 carved chest-length images of saints in small circles.

On the reverse of the panagia, there are three carved full-length images of saints framed by rectangular and oval border scenes. They are flanked by six relief half-length images of saints in rectangular border scenes.

On the left panel inside the panagia, there is a carved image of the Virgin Mary in a rhombus, and on the right panel — the Old Testament Trinity. The bone plates are enclosed in a round gilded frame decorated with filigree on the outside. At the top, there is a large movable finial with a cast Image of Edessa.

Moreover, one of the panels is decorated with six pearls on the front side. The iconography, sculptural technique, and bone carving style are similar to other items from the Solvychegodsk Annunciation Cathedral.