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This hallmarked gilded silver binding "Evangelie naprestol'noe" (Moscow, 1791) for an Altar Gospels includes enamel medallions of Christ, dressed in the saccos and mitre of a bishop, and of the evangelists, surrounded by green stones. It is a rare survivor of the turbulent revolutionary period when countless royal objects were stripped of their jewels and metal ornamentation and melted down into ingots.