Pair of Torah finials. Yemen, [19th century].
Brass, cast and engraved.
Small, slender, elegant pair of Yemenite-style Torah finials. Baluster form, with two upper pear-like faceted knops, an undecorated band and a single gadrooned spheroid knop. Surfaces of both upper sections with vegetal patterns and with two biblical verses, engraved in particularly elegant Hebrew letters: "The Torah of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right" on one finial, and continuing: "gladdening the heart, the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes" (Psalms 19:8-9) on the other. These very same verses also appear on the earliest known pair of Torah finials, dating from the 15th century and kept in the Cathedral of Santa Maria in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
The present Torah finials are unusual insofar as typical Yemenite finials of this variety are almost entirely lacking in decorations, and in particular, inscriptions with biblical verses are very much the exception and not the rule.
Height: 20.5-21 cm. Good condition. Minor blemishes to shaft. Shafts may have been shortened over the years.