Saint Demetrios (identified by the inscription in Greek) is depicted riding a red charger. He wears the traditional Byzantine military attire used to depict soldier saints; his billowing blue cloak has a sculptural quality with folds of the drapery picked out with white highlights. In his left hand, he holds the reins of the charger, and in his right, he raises a spear. The white handle of the spear divides the icon almost in two diagonally from the top right to the bottom left. At the bottom, Kaloyan lies across the dark ground of the bottom half of the icon, the spear entering his face (which has been lost) or neck. The icon has an incised frame (περιθώριο perithório meaning border, margin in Greek) in gold and red. The face of Demetrios seems serene – lending a stillness to the icon.

The iconography recalls that used to depict Saint George slaying the dragon: both iconographies represent the spiritual triumph of good over evil. In the legend of George, evil is represented by a dragon, and here, it is represented by Kaloyan.

Saint Demetrios of Thessaloniki (or the Myrrh-gusher) was a fourth century soldier who was martyred in the persecutions of Emperor Galerian. There is a great church dedicated to him in Thessaloniki, the city of which he is patron. The legend of Demetrios slaying Kaloyan dates to the thirteenth century. There are accounts that Kaloyan was killed by Saint Demetrios, who miraculously appeared at the siege of Thessaloniki in 1207. Accounts of this episode appear later in the century.

The icon can be dated to eighteenth-century Greece, likely around Thessaloniki and historic Macedonia. The sculptural quality of the robes and expressive faces of the saints are characteristic of eighteenth-century Greek icon painting, untouched by Western influence.