A Russian polychrome painted tondo icon, Metropolitan Alexei of Moscow curing the Tartar Princess, later 19th century, the blind Taydulla reclining on a bed, with three further figures in attendance, the drapes and bedclothes painted in stylised foliate patterns, 44cm diameter This fascinating icon relates to events of 1357 when the Metropolitan was summoned by Jani Beg, the Khan of the Golden Horde, to cure the blindness of his mother, and in doing this, saved Moscow from a raid. Taydulla granted land for the construction of the Chudov (Miracle) Monastery which was founded in 1358 The monastery remained an integral part of life within the Kremlin's walls until 1918 when following the Bolshevik Revolution, it was closed down. All of its structures were finally dismantled in 1929, as part of the Soviet Union's ongoing policy of state atheism. (Although interestingly, in 2014 President Putin expressed a wish to see the Chudov Monastery rebuilt). It is probable that the icon offered here was removed from the greater complex of the monastery at about the time of its dissolution in the 1920s.