Of all the military saints St George was the most frequently represented throughout Byzantium, first as a standing Roman warrior and, after the 10th century, on horseback (See Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, OUP 1991, Vol. II). The legend of the princess and the dragon seems to originate in the 12th century, but this anecdote is often not shown. His presence here in the standing posture on the right-hand wing of a triptych allows us to guess the figure on the left was very likely to have been Saint Demetrius. The back, what would have been seen when the wings were closed, show, bishops of the Byzantine Orthodox, leading theologians, and in some cases miracle workers. Church and it is likely that the other wing would display similar figures. The centre panel may have shown The Virgin and Child, or the Face of the Saviour. We illustrate a modern copy, based on a 16th century original that shows the type.

The icon has affinities of style character with a well-known icon in the Recklinghausen Museum in Germany. The absence of Venetian or Cretan features place the icon in the post Byzantine culture Northern Greece or Macedonia where several great monastic foundations, most notably in Mount Athos, survived and even thrived during the Ottoman period.