Russian silver marks on icon? Maker?

I bought this because im interested in paintings and know that these frames were used to protect the paintings. I wanted to remove it to have a look at the picture. Should I do this?

It looks like it was made around the year 1800s. I think that the carved inscription are also on the painting it self?? Can somebody maybe read this. Would also like to know who the maker was?

Any info/input is welcome.

 

No, you should not remove it.

 

☺ that's what I thought. Will this destroy the value?

 

Chances are, it is not painted underneath the covered parts (riza) anyway. In later icons they often painted just the faces and hands, the rest is indicated by outlines.

 

Yes. With the very similar Greek Orthodox icons, this would not be a frame protecting a painting, but is just the way the icon was made, consisting of metal parts with painted faces.
Whether the faces were attached on the back or the front, they were not intended to be removed; there would not be a complete full-size painting behind the metal.
Attempting to separate the faces from the metal would indeed destroy any value.
This depicts the Theotokos, Mary, mother of Jesus; and the words likely say only that.
(Sniped by Any Jewelry)

 

If you look closely at the little Jesus figure, you can see only the face and hand are painted. They are 'floating' in a brown background.
This could be an old riza (the silver cover) on a later icon.
There was a well-known antique dealer in the Betuwe area of The Netherlands in the 1970s, who bought old wooden panels and had them painted in Russia. He sold hundreds of them as antique icons.
He may have commisioned fake antique rizas too, there is a lot of fake 'antique' Russian silver anyway. Favourites of the fakes trade are religious items and items connected with the Romanovs. And Fabergé of course.

 

Thx all for this info. This is very educational.

I've just had a good look with a torch to see if there is a painting underneed the panel. It indeed looks like only the hands and faces are outlined. I did not know that they also made icons with outlines only, always thought they were covers .

Happy that I asked first for info on this site, otherwise I would had removed the frame ☺.

 

that is good to know. I never heard of this story. But than again I never had a icon before as this is my first one.

Yes It is a possibily that they removed the painting in the past from its cover and replaced it with the current one.

I will maybe find out more about his theory if I can establish who the silver smith was to see if he worked in this way

 

Ditto what the others posted above. I have made many trips to Russia and unfortunately there are so many authentic-looking reproductions made due to the desirability of icons. for verification of age you need a "hands on" inspection by someone in the know.
A lot of opportunists have arisen from a very hard economy. They have become very protective of "true historic icons" that if suspected that they are really old ones they have been known to confiscate them even with proper papers. Many old ones are radioactive and are checked for radioactivity. (Some are deemed radioactive even if they are not.) I even had a painting sold to me by a good friend in Siberia (with proper papers of authentication from the artist) confiscated as a historical oil painting! (I knew for certain it had been painted 3 months prior. Someone at the airport must have really liked it.)

 

I visited St. Petersburg in 2005... the only time I have been to Russia. A colleague and I visited an antique store there, and the first thing the staff told us was that they would be unable to sell us any icons because icons were not allowed to be removed from the country. (We hadn't intended to buy any.) I also heard later that they were not supposed to sell us anything that was over 100 years old. I did buy two real photo postcards and an old card-mounted photo there. They were all approximately 100 years old at the time. But I suppose they didn't think much of it because the total cost for all three was less than $10 (US).