A WOODEN ICON OF VIRGIN MARY AND CHILD AND AN ENGRAVED LITHOGRAPH WOOD BLOCK OF SAINT ANNE
Possibly Greece and Italy, 18th - 19th century

Comprising a small rectangular wooden icon of Virgin and Child, the composition framed within a lobed arch and with a band of Greek characters at the back, the back plain, 23cm x 15.5cm; and a wood block panel for lithographs engraved with an icon of Saint Anne seated next to young Mary, her daughter, both figures with a large nimbus around their heads, St. John the Baptist with halo standing behind them, at the bottom the inscription SANTA ANNA, 35cm x 25cm.

According to apocryphal Christian and Islamic traditions, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Recognised as a highly spiritual woman and as Mary's mother, Saint Anne is revered in Islam even though her name does not seem to appear directly in the Qur'an - she is known as the wife of Imran. Her cult is particularly strong in Eastern Christian churches and her supposed relics were brought from the Holy Land to Constantinople (Istanbul) in 710 and kept there in the church of St. Sophia as late as 1333.