Exceptionally large, decorated jewelry box. Damascus, Syria, 5665 [1905].

Cast brass, inlaid with copper and silver (Damascening); silver inlaid with gold; chased; rivets; cedar wood.

Exceptionally large, weighty ornate jewelry box, inscribed with greetings in Hebrew and Arabic. A high-quality example, inscribed with a date, of specifically Jewish Damascene craftsmanship involving metal inlay. May have been presented as an engagement or wedding gift.

Massively heavy rectangular box made of cedar wood dressed with thick sheets of brass, inlaid with silver and copper; with a heavy lid, connected by rotating hinges; supported on four tall, fancy, angular legs, positioned at the four corners of the base.

Richly decorated using a variety of techniques and patterns; the brass sections not inlaid with silver or copper are densely adorned with chased vegetal patterns. At the center of the front surface is an inlaid oval-shaped silver medallion with an Arabic inscription, flanked by round silver medallions with arabesques, all encircled by additional silver ornaments with vegetal patterns. Inlaid at the center of the surface of either side are round silver medallions with Arabic inscriptions. The rear surface, like the front, has an inlaid oval-shaped silver medallion with an Arabic inscription, but is flanked by a pair of large arabesques, and no round medallions. Inlaid at the opposite ends of the surface of the lid are a pair of round silver medallions bearing Arabic inscriptions, each surrounded by four silver corner ornaments, each with a segment of the following Hebrew inscriptions: "Ben Porat / Yosef / [Hebrew] Year / 5665 [1905]" and "Ben Porat / … / ‘Esek Yisrael BeDamesek’ [Jewish Business in Damascus (?)]". The Arabic inscriptions include brief aphorisms and words of wisdom and faith, such as "All is from God", "The Lord will protect", "One who is satisfied with his lot is as [one who] owns a treasure", "Nothing is forever", etc. All inscriptions – as well as some of the ornaments – are inlaid with gold.

Height: 16 cm. Length: 10.5 cm. Width: 22.5 cm. Overall good condition

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 103.002.001.

This jewelry box is documented on the Center for Jewish Art (CJA) website, item no. 37600.

"Juive de Turquie", Plate bearing the image of a Jewish woman from somewhere in the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Paris, [ca. 1816-20].
Hard-paste porcelain, painted, gilded, and glazed; marked on verso with the letter "M" and with a maker’s mark (somewhat faded) that reads "M.ture de M.de / Duchesse d'Angouleme / Dagoty Honore / a Paris".
At the center of the plate, over a white background, is an illustration of a mother and daughter, walking in an open field and wearing the costume typical of Jewish women of the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century. Underneath the illustration is an inscription in gilt lettering: "Juive de Turquie" ("Jewess from Turkey"). The rim is greenish-colored with a recurrent vegetal pattern in gilt. A gilt band and pattern also adorn the inner rim.
The porcelain tableware produced in Paris’s Dagoty et Honoré workshop was renowned for its exquisitely high quality, for its elegant decorative patterns, and for its bold colors. The artwork, illustrations, and imagery covered a broad range of genres, subjects and themes, and included landscapes, plants, animals, literary scenes, the Franco-Prussian War (1812), scenes inspired by Chinese and Far Eastern literature ("Chinoiserie"), and more.
In all likelihood, the present plate was created as part of a 12-piece set specifically dedicated by the workshop to figures representing various nations from around the world. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, this particular plate and just one additional plate of its kind (see previous item) are the only Dagoty et Honoré plates featuring Jewish figures or subject matter.
The Dagoty et Honoré workshop was founded in Paris by Pierre-Louis Dagoty (1771-1840) in 1800. Thereafter, in 1804, it gained the sponsorship of Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais, whereupon it began supplying its merchandise to the Palace of Versailles. Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the workshop began operating under the auspices of the French princess, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte, Duchesse d'Angouleme, and between the years 1816 and 1820, it worked in collaboration with Edouard Honoré. The mark which appears on the back of the present plate can be dated to those years, 1816-20, and it thus corresponds to this period of collaboration.
For comparison, see: Christie’s, New York, May 18, 2005, "Important European Furniture, Works of Art and Carpets", lot no. 97.

Diameter: 23 cm. Good condition. Minor blemishes. Remnants of glue on verso.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 022.006.009.
This plate is documented on the Center for Jewish Art (CJA) website, item no. 41240.

Der Golem, folder of twenty-seven lithographs by Hugo Steiner-Prag, signed by the artist. [Leipzig?], 1916.
Twenty-seven proof copies (Probedruck) by the artist Hugo Steiner-Prag in preparation for printing Der Golem – a series of illustrations for the Golem of Prague legend (according to the version by Gustav Meyrink). Signed and dated by the artist in the margins (1916), with the inscription "Probedruck" (proof copy; some illustrations include titles handwritten by Steiner-Prag).
For two of the illustrations – the Golem's face and the Street of the Alchemists – the artist prepared two different prints: a dark version, as seen in Kurt Wolff's edition, and a lighter version, which was never ultimately used (the present folder includes both versions). An additional lithograph, depicting a figure standing under a stone arch in the night, was never published in Kurt Wolff's edition, and presumably only exists as a proof copy in the present folder.
All the lithographs are matted, and are placed in a fine folder with parchment spine. One lithograph is signed in print, not in handwriting (also marked "Probedruck").
The Der Golem series of lithographs was published by Kurt Wolff (Leipzig, 1916) in a portfolio edition of 300 copies – one of the most impressive and original attempts to depict the Golem of Prague. The present folder contains proof copies of all the illustrations included in the portfolio, apart from one (illustration of Hahnpassgasse street).

[27] lithographs printed on [26] plates (one plate printed on both sides), size varies slightly. Matted (50 cm). Good condition. Some stains and minor defects (primarily to passepartouts). Folder slightly worn and damaged. Illustrated bookplate inside folder.

Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, ALE.93.

The Haggadah, Haggadah by Arthur Szyk, printed on parchment; English translation and foreword by Cecil Roth. London: Beaconsfield Press, [ca. 1940]. Hebrew and English.
A bibliophile edition of superb aesthetic quality, designed in the spirit of medieval illuminated Hebrew manuscripts, and considered Arthur Szyk's magnum opus. Copy no. 70 of 240 (half were intended for sale in the United States, and half in England), signed on the colophon leaf by Arthur Szyk and Cecil (Bezalel) Roth.
Each page of the Haggadah is scribed in neat calligraphic script, with rich illustrations, ornaments and illuminated initial words. Fourteen full-page illustrations. Hebrew text and English translation on facing pages, occasionally with small ornament. Illustrated dedication to King George VI of England at the beginning of the book: "At the Feet of Your Most Gracious Majesty I humbly lay these works of my hands, shewing forth the Afflictions of my People Israel. Artur Szyk, illuminator of Poland" (the very first copy of the Haggadah was dedicated by Szyk and Cecil Roth to King George VI).
The Szyk Haggadah was created between 1932-1938 – 48 breathtakingly beautiful leaves, qualified by the London Times as "worthy to be placed among the most beautiful of books that the hand of man has produced". Syzk produced the Haggadah against the backdrop of the increasingly deteriorating situation of European Jewry, and it is interweaved with allusions to the persecution the Jews were suffering and the dangers they faced. Szyk portrayed the wicked son, for instance, as a German figure with a Hitler-like moustache, wearing clothes reminiscent of the S.S. Uniform. The battle against Amalek, as Cecil Roth writes in his foreword, is the central motif of the Haggadah illustrations. Due to its sharp messages, no European press was willing to print the Haggadah, and it was eventually printed in London, in the Beaconsfield Press (established specially for printing the Haggadah), during the war years.

Fine copy. Leather binding with gilt ornament after an illustration by Szyk. Placed in original, velvet-lined gilt decorated case, with leather spine and corners.
XXVI pages, [46] leaves. Vol: 28 cm. Case: approx. 33.5 cm. Good condition. Some stains and defects. Marginal stains to first and final leaves (blank). Several tiny holes to binding (repaired with paint). Minor wear to binding. Wear and stains to case.

There is a certain lack of clarity in regard to the Haggadah's year of publication: the year 1939 is printed on the page opposite the title, under Szyk's brief preface (French). In Otzar HaHaggadot, the Haggadah is dated 1940 (Otzar HaHaggadot, no. 3712). Yaari dates the Haggadah for 1941 (Yaari, no. 2285). Cecil Roth himself gives once 1939 (Printed Illustrated Haggadot, Areshet – III, 1961, p. 28) and once 1940 as year of printing (A Bibliographical Note on the Syzk Haggadah, by Cecil Roth, Studies in Bibliography and Booklore, vol. 9, no. 1, 1969, pp. 50).
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, ALE.68.