Auction 94 Part 2 Rare and Important Items
Year-round Italian rite machzor, Part II. Venice: Bragadin Press, 1772.
Paper; wood and fabric; silver, cast, repoussé, sawed and engraved (marked with the monogram "MR" (?) enclosed in an oval-shaped frame).
Silver ornaments with vegetal patterns appear on both the front and back binding and on the spine, nailed to the wooden boards of the binding. A fabric cover, originally velvet in texture but now thoroughly worn, is wrapped around the binding, which is held closed with two decorative buckles. On both the front and back binding, in the middle, are cartouches surmounted by crowns with convex medallions in the center, bearing a two-part dedicatory (Hebrew) inscription: "R. Yosef David HaLevi" on the front, and "Stella Usiglio Leviah" on the back. Apparently, the prayer book was given as a gift to one of the two members of the couple on the occasion of their upcoming marriage.
In all likelihood, the name "Usiglio" pertains to a well-known family of merchants in 18th century Modena. This family, among other things, possessed a synagogue within the city; the Levi family was also an important family of merchants in Modena during that same period. Toward the end of the book, there are handwritten notations documenting the birth of a daughter in year 1842, and a son in 1846.
322 leaves, 16 cm. Binding in fair-good condition. Fabric worn and faded, minor fractures to silver ornaments and several pieces missing. Prayer book in good condition, with few stains. Endsheets from later period (19th century?).
Torah case with matching pair of finials. [India; possibly made in China], dedication dated 5647 [1887].
Wood covered in a coat of sheet silver, repoussé, stamped, and engraved; silver, cast, turned, and engraved; brass sheet and copper nails. Without Torah scroll.
Large, ornate Torah case, covered in a coat of repoussé sheet silver, adorned with rich, dense, vegetal patterns, with long, twisting tendrils. Capped with a large dome, decorated with patterns complementing those on the body, and with a pair of large, winding branches forming the outline of inverted heart shapes. The finials surmounting the dome are positioned on either side of it and are anchored just beneath the apices of the inverted heart shapes. The dome is surmounted by a pear-shaped ornament, with bells dangling from chains suspended from its base. The upper rim of the body is surmounted by a circular tiara-shaped ornament ("atarah") with a recurrent vegetal pattern. The base forming the bottom of the case is coated with a layer of brass sheet fastened to the wood with copper nails. The finials are pear-shaped, and adorned with patterns complementing those on the body and dome. At the bases of the graceful, conical, bud-shaped apices of the finials are thick grooved discs, and from these, dangling chains with bells at their ends are suspended.
On the surfaces of the two flat, opposing walls of the interior of the opened dome are silver plaques engraved with lengthy dedicatory Hebrew inscriptions. Inscribed on the right plaque are verses related to the subject of the Torah: "And this is the teaching which Moses set before the children of Israel" (Deuteronomy 4:44), among others. The left plaque bears a lengthy inscription, dedicated by a widow to the memory of her departed daughter: "…this case and the Torah scroll contained within were dedicated by Simcha wife of the late R. Yaakov Shlomo Kashani, for the soul of her daughter Leah wife of R. Mordehai Yehezkel Natan, who passed away on Shabbat 24th Iyar 1846… Dedicated in 1847".
Although this particular case is reminiscent in its shape of Torah scroll cases from Iraq and the Near East, its decorative elements, the shape of its finials, and the style of its dedicatory inscription are actually far more typical of those of similar items from the Far East, specifically, India, China, and Burma. It thus represents a fine example of a sacred object belonging to Iraqi Jews residing in the Far East (for comparison, see two Torah scroll cases from Calcutta, India, in the collection of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Item Nos. B94.0540, B94.0656).
Height of case: 95 cm. Diameter 26 cm. height of finials 23.5 cm. Overall good condition. Segments trimmed from shafts of finials to enable easy insertion into dome of case.
An almost identical pair of Torah scroll cases, each with a matching pair of finials; both with dedicatory inscriptions for Eliyahu Moshe Dweck HaKohen – rabbi of the "Magen David" Congregation of Calcutta – and his wife. Calcutta (today Kolkata), India, dedicatory inscriptions dated 5687-5688 [1927-1928].
Wood, covered in a coat of sheet silver, repoussé, stamped, and engraved (each of the two cases marked on the bottom with the mark of the silversmith "Goopee Nath Dutt & Co., Bhowanipore, Calcutta"); silver, cast, turned and engraved; velvet cloth fabric. Without Torah scrolls.
Two almost identical Torah scroll cases (one slightly taller than the other), with matching ornamentation and decorative elements, each surmounted by a pair of finials. Exteriors covered with a coat of repoussé sheet silver adorned with recurrent vegetal patterns, arranged within ornate medallions. Each case capped with domes surmounted by pear-shaped ornaments, with bells dangling from chains suspended from their upper disks. Upper rims of bodies surmounted by circular tiara-shaped ornaments ("atarot") with a recurrent vegetal pattern. Both domes equipped with a pair of finials with matching vegetal decorative patterns. The finials are all pear-shaped, and capped by low-rising domes, in turn surmounted by conical ornaments at the apices. Interiors of cases coated in dark-blue velvet. The bases forming the bottoms of the cases, like the rest of the bodies, are covered in silver.
The interiors of each of the two cases feature two silver plaques engraved with lengthy dedicatory Hebrew inscriptions, on the flat surfaces of the opposing walls of each dome. Inscribed on the right plaque are verses related to the subject of the Torah: "And this is the teaching which Moses set before the children of Israel" (Deuteronomy 4:44); "These are the statutes, the ordinances, and the laws that the Lord gave between Himself and the children of Israel on Mount Sinai, by the hand of Moses" (Leviticus 26:46). The left plaque of each of the case bears personal inscriptions in memory of a couple, Eliyahu Moshe Dweck and his wife Gracia Dweck HaKohen. The plaque of the shorter case is dedicated to the husband, Eliyahu: "This case and the Torah scroll contained within were dedicated for the soul of R. Eliyahu Moshe Dweck HaKohen who passed away on Shabbat 12th Shevat 1927…"; the plaque of the taller case is dedicated to his wife, Gracia: "This case and the Torah scroll contained within were dedicated for the soul of Gracia wife of R. Eliyahu Moshe Dweck HaKohen, who passed away on Friday 25th Tammuz 1928…".
Rabbi Eliyahu Moshe Dweck Hakohen was the scion of a renowned rabbinic family from Aram Tzova (Haleb or Aleppo, Syria) who presided over Calcutta’s "Magen David" congregation for over 50 years. Among other things, he served as editor of "Perach, " a magazine that was the mouthpiece for the Calcuttan Jewish community originating from Baghdad. In 1881, he set up his own Hebrew printing house in Calcutta. Eliyahu Dweck was the son of rabbi Moshe ben Shim’on, one of the founders of the Iraqi-Syrian Jewish community in Calcutta in the 19th century (see a parokhet with a plaque bearing a memorial inscription dedicated to Moshe Shim’on Dweck Hakohen: Sotheby’s, New York, Steinhardt Collection, April 29, 2013, Item no. 337).
Height of shorter Torah case: 83.5 cm (finials: 17 cm); Height of taller Torah case: 86 cm (finials: 21 cm); diameter of both cases: 26 cm. Overall good condition. Minor tears to velvet cloth.
Hanging Lamp for the Sabbath and holidays. [The Netherlands, 18th Century].
Cast pewter (unmarked).
Hanging lamp of a type characteristically used by Sephardi Jews of Spanish or Portuguese origin in the Netherlands (as well as by Sephardi Jews in England). Its origins can be traced to West Friesland (a region situated in the north of the Netherlands).
This item bears the characteristic structure of a lamp of this type. It has five parts, not including the missing original suspension hook: a multi-edged, fan-shaped crown, an upright support (baluster) which also functions as a reflector, an oil pan in the shape of a seven-point star, a small drip pan, and a bud-shaped weight.
Three 18th-century versions of this type of Shabbat lamp are known to exist, made of brass, silver, and pewter. All three versions are relatively rare, but the brass version is the least uncommon, with dozens of documented examples. The silver versions are rarer; only some 19 lamps are known to exist, not all of them intact. Surprisingly, the ostensibly inexpensive pewter versions are the rarest of all; thanks to the relative fragility and breakability of the material, very few copies have survived, and of these, in effect only a handful are entirely intact. Four pewter hanging Shabbat lamps are kept in the Jewish Museum, Amsterdam, but only one of them is intact, one is kept in the collection of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (117/39), two others are part of a private collection in Zurich, Switzerland, and one other copy was auctioned at Christie’s, Amsterdam, May 27, 1997, lot no. 456.
Height: Approx. 80 cm. Overall good condition.