A finely painted and unusual triptych in the Cretan style, possibly St Catherine’s Monastery, Mount Sinai, late 17th century

A finely painted and unusual triptych in the Cretan style, possibly St Catherine’s Monastery, Mount Sinai, late 17th century

the panel, carved in one block and surmounted by gilded Putti holding a crown over a double headed Eagle below a pine cone finial, opens to reveal a central composition painted with nine great Church Festivals below an image of the Nativity, the left hand panel painted with an image of the Burning Bush and Moses receiving the tablets on Mount Sinai below an image of the Annunciation, the right hand panel with Saint Catherine below an image of the Presentation in Temple, the obverse left with the Doctor Saints Cosmos and Damian, and the obverse right with the Three Great Hierarchs Saints Basil the Great, St Gregory the Theologian and St John of Damascus

opened 55.5 by 41.5cm; 21⅞by 16 in.