Icon "Nativity of Christ"

At the center of the composition is the Mother of God, reclining on a couch covered with a precious red fabric with a gold ornament, spread over rocks. She is wrapped in a red maphorion and looks to the left. Before her, against the black opening of a cave, is a manger with the swaddled Infant Christ, toward whom the muzzles of an ox and a donkey reach. Above the mountaintop is the Star of Bethlehem, its golden rays descending toward the cave. To the right of the cave, on the mountain slope, an angel announces the birth of Christ to a shepherd. To the left, on the opposite slope, an angel sings glory to Christ; below are three Magi in red, green, and yellow garments, who have approached the cave bringing gifts for the Infant: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. At the lower right, two midwives prepare to bathe the newborn. One holds the unswaddled Infant on her lap (the image of the Christ Child appears twice), while the other pours water from a jug into the bath. At the lower left, Joseph sits in heavy thought. Before him stands an old man in shepherd's dress (an evil spirit), leaning with his left hand on a staff. On the Mother of God's halo is the inscription "MR OU" [Mother of God] (in Church Slavonic). The colors are muted. The icon is painted within a recessed "ark" on a panel covered with gesso and canvas. The panel is reinforced with two inset horizontal battens.