Set of four printed Sukkah plaques. [Livorno, Italy: Eliezer Saadon], [1782].
Print on paper.
Set comprising four printed plaques designed as sukkah decorations; each plaque features different verses connected to the sukkah and Sukkot. The plaque borders are comprised of typographic ornaments typical of books printed in Livorno in that period. A medallion at the foot of each plaque, decorated with flower bouquets and putti, states the year of printing. Both the text and ornaments appear to be woodcut.
The custom of decorating the sukkah with ornamented plaques developed over the course of the 18th century. The plaques mostly contained verses or texts related to Sukkot, alongside illustrations, ornaments and blessings. These plaques, essentially temporary decorations used only during the course of the festival, were not well conserved. This is a unique exemplar of a set which was preserved in good condition (only one plaque from this set is found in the NLI, from the Valmadonna collection).

Approx. 42X30 cm. Fair condition, varies. Stains, tears, folding marks, creases and wear. Open tears – slightly affecting illustrations and text – professionally restored.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 038.011.001.

A diorama, or paper theater, depicting the Sukkot festival meal; composed of six hand-colored engravings, following Bernard Picart. [Augsburg: Martin Engelbrecht, mid-18th century].
Hand-colored engraving, cardboard.
Diorama following Bernard Picart, representing a Jewish family in a Sukkah (the original illustration appeared as a normal engraving in Picart's book, Religious Ceremonies and Customs of All the Peoples of the World).
The present diorama is made of six layers: each layer includes an engraving with various details from the full picture, mounted on a thick board. By erecting the layers horizontally, the three-dimensional effect is shown – Picart's full picture, resembling a theater scene with depth.
In the first layer the Sukkah is perceived from outside, with doors wide open; in the second layer appear the title "Jüdisches Lauberhütten Fest / Fête des Tabernacles" and three guests – two men and a lady, entering the Sukkah; in the third layer appear the Sukkah decorations, a male and female servant, and a pair of lit candlesticks; in the fourth layer appear the festival table, the rest of the family and Sukkah decorations; in the fifth layer appear two additional servants carrying two plates to the table; in the sixth layer appears the window of the Sukkah.
Dioramas such as the present item appeared at the start of the 18th century, and were purchased as wedding gifts or toys for children. The dioramas were composed of a number of layers and set up in a dedicated "peep show box" through which the engraving appeared to "come to life" and become a theater scene. The most important of the diorama printers was the engraver and publisher Martin Engelbrecht (1684-1756), who among other dioramas printed two dedicated to a Jewish theme – the dedication of the Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam, and the Sukkot holiday meal (both following Bernard Picart's illustrations); the Sukkot diorama is the less common of the two, and to the best of our knowledge, it is not exist in any other private collection.

Six parts, approx. 16X21 cm. Without margins (in the copy in the Jewish Museum in Amsterdam, there are larger margins with the printer's details; see item no. M000635). Good condition. Light stains and damages. A paper Menorah is missing from the fourth part. The parts are glued to new carboard sheets (slightly larger than the engravings).

Exhibitions:
1. Pots and Pans: Memories from Grandma's kitchen, by Yael Wiesel. [Ashdod], Museum of Philistine Culture, 2014 (Hebrew).
2. Only on Paper, Six Centuries of Judaica from the Gross Family Collection. Chicago, Columbia College, 2005.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 038.011.043.

Mizrach plaque – papercut by Shalom son of Chaim Halevi Horowitz. England, [1890/1891]. Hebrew and English.
Papercut, ink and pencil.
A Mizrach plaque from the late Victorian period: an elaborate papercut – among the largest and most detailed papercuts documented – resembling a lace fabric full of rich decorations, dense arabesques, intertwining vegetal patterns, birds, fruits, zodiac symbols, lions, horses and Stars of David – arranged in a complex architectural structure, typical of Jewish papercuts from the Galicia region, which might attest to the origins of its maker.
At the top of the plaque, under the inscription "Keter Malchut", appears the United Kingdom coat of arms: a shield decorated with a crown, and a pair of animals supporting it – a lion, representing England, and a unicorn, representing Scotland. At the two upper corners and under the royal coat of arms appear text frames with a dedication and prayer for Queen Victoria (1819-1901), Crown Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), and the royal family, handwritten (English).
Next to the United Kingdom coat of arms appear the saying: "Pray for the welfare of the state, for if not for fear of it, man would swallow his fellow alive" (Avot 3:2). Below it appears a royal variation on another saying characteristic of Mizrach posters: "Know before Whom you are standing: before the King of Kings of Kings, the Holy One, Blessed is He" (Avot 3:1).
At the center of the plaque appears the fixed formula for Mizrach posters – "From this side, a spirit of life and peace" (Hebrew). The addition of the word "peace" is apparently an allusion to the name of the artist, Shalom. The frame is supported by two lions – another common motif in this kind of plaques, and an allusion to the United Kingdom coat of arms.
Under the inscription appears a large seven-branched menorah, with a base made in an endless knot pattern and branches inscribed in delicate micrography with the verses of Psalm 67 ("Lamnatzeach"). The menorah is placed under a bow supported by pillars drawn as dense arabesques, with the names of the twelve constellations and their symbols cut out and decorated in pencil. Between the pillars appear text frames with the verse "How goodly are your tents, O Jacob", and the aphorism "Man worries about the loss of his money but does not worry about the loss of his days; his money does not help him and his days do not return". At the bottom appears a text frame with a dedicatory inscription: "Israel, Your holy people in the world, called a 'wall', hope for Your salvation, Lord. Blessed be their souls; may the strong one answer them, fulfill their requests. Please hurry from Zion, O sought-after one". The highlighted acrostic letters spell out the name Yaakov Nechemiah son of Chaim. Below the inscription appears the name "Mrs. Finkelsten". It may be that the papercut had been ordered by Mrs. Finkelsten and dedicated to Yaakov Nechemiah ben Chaim.
At the bottom margin there is an additional text frame with the artist's signature: "The work of my hand, Shalom ben Chaim HaLevi Horowitz, 1891".
The plaque is placed in a wooden frame decorated with patterns matching the papercut – apparently of the same period.

Papercut: Approx. 65X68.5 cm. Frame: 90x91.5 cm. Good condition. Light stains and creases. Light wear, damages and fractures in the frame. Background paper replaced.

Reference and exhibitions:
1. Written in the Stars. Jerusalem, the Israel Museum, 2001 (Hebrew).
2. Jewish tradition in papercuts, by Naomi Shapira. Kfar HaOranim, Matan Arts 2018, p. 36 (Hebrew).
3. Traditional Jewish Papercuts, by Joseph and Yehudit Shadur. London and Hanover, University Press of New England, 2002, p. 80.
4. Only on Paper, Six Centuries of Judaica from the Gross Family Collection. Chicago, Columbia College, 2005.
5. Jodendom: een boek vol verhalen, by Edward van Voolen. Amsterdam, Museumshop De Nieuwe Kerk, 2011, no. 62.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 036.011.016.
This Mizrach plaque is documented on the Center for Jewish Art (CJA) website, item no. 48935.

"Mizrach" wall plaque, handwritten and hand-painted. Created by Jacob Haas, native of Strasbourg, on behalf of Mordechai ben Aharon Westheimer and his wife "the Officer" Mme. Rivkah. Niedenstein, Germany, 23rd of Av, 5580 [August 1820].
Colored ink on paper.
"Mizrach" wall plaque to be hung on the eastern wall of a private home. Created in Alsatian style by an artist from Strasbourg residing in Germany.
The word "Mizrach" ("East") is the dominant feature at the center of the plaque. Above this are the (Hebrew) words "Mitzad zeh ruach chayyim" ("From this direction [comes] the spirit of life"). To the left of the word "Mizrach" is a dedicatory inscription in Hebrew and Yiddish-German bearing the name of the artist who created the plaque, and the name of the person who presumably commissioned it: "Created and written on Thursday, the 23rd of Menachem Av […] by the young man Jacob Haas, a teacher here in Niedenstein, native of Strasbourg. Mordechai Westheimer"; the rest of the dedication is inscribed inside a circle appearing beneath the word "Mizrach": "On order of […] son of Honored Rabbi Aharon Westheimer and his wife the Officer Mme. Rivkah, Niedenstein". The Mishnaic teaching "Return one day prior to your death" (Avot 2:10) appears in the middle of the upper margin, and in each of the four corners there are circles bearing various (Hebrew) inscriptions: "From the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof the Lord’s name is to be praised…" (Psalms 113:3); "A man worries over the loss of his monies and worries not over the loss of his days" (old Jewish proverb, anonymous); "Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field" (Deuteronomy 28:3); and "Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out" (Deuteronomy 28:6).
Interestingly, the words "Return one day prior to your death" do not often appear on items of Judaica in general, and especially not on "Mizrach" wall plaques. For this reason – and also on account of the prominence of the color black – it is quite possible that this particular "Mizrach" wall plaque was also meant to be what is known as a "memento mori" wall plaque, whose purpose is to serve as a constant reminder of the inevitable day of death. Only a handful of plaques of this nature bearing Hebrew inscriptions are known to exist.
The present wall plaque bears extraordinarily unusual illustrations, in terms of both their subject matter and the technique used to create them. In these regards, they are decidedly atypical of "Mizrach" wall plaques, and items of Judaica in general. They do, however, appear on two additional known Alsatian "Mizrach" plaques (see below). The layout of the plaque is symmetrical, and it bears illustrations of a (smoking) pipe, a feather quill pen, pince-nez eyeglasses, and three playing cards. In addition to these, an illustration of an envelope addressed to "the Officer, the Honored Rabbi Mordechai, may his Rock and Redeemer protect him" overlies the feather quill, stamped with a wax seal bearing the initials "MW" for Mordechai Westheimer. Features such as these are associated with a painting technique known in French as "trompe-l'œil" (lit. "to deceive the eye"), a technique which employs imagery familiar from daily life in such a manner as to create an optical illusion. In the example here, the optical illusion is achieved thanks to the fact that the entire sheet is colored in black, and all the illustrations and decorative framing are in effect produced by simply leaving parts of the sheet blank, in its original color. The remaining decorations, inscriptions, and shading, with other colors included, are then added in.
Presumably, the artist’s Alsatian origins and his exposure to French culture served as influences in his artistic style, particularly with regard to this specific work. For comparison, see a similar wall plaque produced in Haguenau in 1858: Les Juifs d'Alsace: Village, Tradition, Emancipation, by Ester Muchawsky-Schnapper. Jerusalem, the Israel Museum, 1991, item no. 26 (French and Hebrew); and an additional plaque, presumably created in Metz (1799): the Jewish Museum, New York, item no. F4915 (Treasures of the Jewish Museum, 1986, pp. 120-121).
A small Jewish community resided in Niedenstein (near Kassel), Germany, beginning in the 17th century. The 120 Jews who reportedly lived there in 1834 represented roughly 20 percent of the small town’s overall population of 610.

24X21 cm. Overall good condition. Stains. Minor tears and a number of small holes. Framed.

Exhibition: Jodendom: een boek vol verhalen. Amsterdam, De Nieuwe Kerk, 2011-2012.
Provenance:
1. Tajan Judaica, Paris, 7 April 1994, lot no. 44.
2. The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 056.011.037.