Auction 61 - Rare and Important Items
Large Illustrated Parchment Ketubah - Rome, 1820
Opening: $5,000
Sold for: $10,625
Including buyer's premium
Ketubah recording the marriage of Gavriel, "son of the dear honored elder" Shlomo Chaim Castelnuovo, with Chana, "daughter of the dear honored elder" Gershon David Volterra. Rome, November 1820.
Large-format ketubah, handwritten on parchment, with illustrations, colorful ornaments and shaped bottom border.
The text is framed by four panels. Three of the panels are ornamented with a chain of intertwined circles painted in gold, yellow and blue. The top panel is composed of two rectangles with verses of blessings and two squares with figurative illustrations: an illustration of King Solomon's trial (perhaps due to the fact that the name of the groom's father is Shlomo), and an illustration of a girl carrying chains of flowers. The word "ba'revi'i" is enlarged and framed by a ribbon. At the bottom of the ketubah is a family emblem - a lion (facing left) leaning on a stone tower framed by branches and delicately-colored ribbons.
A blank space remains in the center of the text, usually filled in with the name of the attorney who takes care of the (civil) marriage agreement: "Office of ---". Below the text are the signatures of the witnesses: Yitzchak son of Ya'akov Zitoni and Yehoshua Gershon son of David Binyamin Ashkenazi.
48.5X74 cm. Good condition. Faded ink. Stains. Creases and small tears to margins. Folding marks. A fabric thread is sewn into the bottom. Minor glue traces on verso. A tiny hole at the top of the ketubah.
Large-format ketubah, handwritten on parchment, with illustrations, colorful ornaments and shaped bottom border.
The text is framed by four panels. Three of the panels are ornamented with a chain of intertwined circles painted in gold, yellow and blue. The top panel is composed of two rectangles with verses of blessings and two squares with figurative illustrations: an illustration of King Solomon's trial (perhaps due to the fact that the name of the groom's father is Shlomo), and an illustration of a girl carrying chains of flowers. The word "ba'revi'i" is enlarged and framed by a ribbon. At the bottom of the ketubah is a family emblem - a lion (facing left) leaning on a stone tower framed by branches and delicately-colored ribbons.
A blank space remains in the center of the text, usually filled in with the name of the attorney who takes care of the (civil) marriage agreement: "Office of ---". Below the text are the signatures of the witnesses: Yitzchak son of Ya'akov Zitoni and Yehoshua Gershon son of David Binyamin Ashkenazi.
48.5X74 cm. Good condition. Faded ink. Stains. Creases and small tears to margins. Folding marks. A fabric thread is sewn into the bottom. Minor glue traces on verso. A tiny hole at the top of the ketubah.