This miniature icon was meant to be a devotional image that could be used for prayer while traveling. An exclusive treasure, it was created for a princely family from the circle of the last tsar and tsarina, Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna. In 1960, Prince Yusupov gave it to the family of the lender. Due to its provenance, the frame and painting are of particularly high quality. The fine silverwork comes from the workshops of Karl Fabergé, who was a purveyor to the court and is known worldwide for his production of the famous Fabergé eggs, synonymous with the finest silver and jewelry work.

The depiction of the adoration scene in front of the nativity grotto was signed by the painter Alexander Dimitrievich Borozdin (1880–1941) in the lower left corner. The three magi kneel before the manger. On the other side, Mary and Joseph turn toward the Christ Child. A divine ray falls from the golden sky directly onto the face of Jesus.

Borozdin was a priest and icon and church painter, and occasionally headed the Tsar's icon painting workshop in Moscow. This depiction is one of the last icons he was able to paint. In the years following the October Revolution, he created fairy tale illustrations and enamel works. After his arrest in 1941 for “anti-Soviet statements,” he was murdered in 1942 in the NKVD prison in Saratov.