The icon St. Nicholas the Miracle-worker was given to Emperor Nicholas II in 1894 by Old Believers in Moscow, possibly upon the occasion of his accession to the throne. The painter, Mikhail Dikarev of Mster, and the maker of the unique revetment, the Moscovite Yakov Mishukov, were both Old Believers, who starting in the mid-17th century were subjected to harsh persecution for adhering to ancient religious texts and traditions. The Old Believers hoped the new tsar would grant them rights on par with other confessions, which did indeed come to pass in 1905. The immaculately crafted revetment, imitating the works of the tsars’ jewelers in the 16th century, is evenly matched by the quality of the painting.