Auction 79 - Judaica from the Finkelstein Family Collection
Pair of Torah Finials – Musmeah Yeshua Synagogue, Rangoon, Burma, 1887/8
Opening: $10,000
Estimate: $12,000 - $15,000
Sold for: $35,000
Including buyer's premium
Pair of Torah finials, dedicated to the Musmeah Yeshua Synagogue of the Iraqi-Jewish community in Rangoon, Burma (today Yangon, Myanmar), 5648 (1887/88).
Silver (Chinese marks), repoussé, engraved and punched; parcel gilt.
Torah finials of the Oriental type, reminiscent in form of finials characteristic of Baghdad. Head in form of tapering dome, surmounted by knop. Body pear-shaped, decorated in vegetal patterns; topped with decorated disk-like ornament, and with flattened sphere at bottom. Each finial with eight dangling chains with chimes shaped like grains of wheat at their ends.
Dedicatory inscription (Hebrew) on each of the two finials: " In honor of the Prophet Elijah […, dedicated to] Musmeah Yeshua [Synagogue], Year 5648 [1887/88], Rangoon […]."
The Myanamar Jewish community is one of the smallest Jewish communities in East Asia. The Musmeah Yeshua Synagogue is the last surviving Jewish house of worship in the Lower City of Yangon, and, for that matter, the lone surviving synagogue in all of Myanmar. Established in 1857, it is nestled between private shops on a small street in the vicinity of the city center, and continues to serve the remaining members of Myanmar’s tiny Jewish community, most of them descendants of Sephardic Iraqi Jews.
Height: 19 cm.
Torah finials very similar to the present pair (with an identical inscription), but somewhat smaller, can be found in the Israel Museum Collection. See: The Israel Museum Collection, item no. B86.0167(a-b). See also: Chaya Benjamin, "The Stieglitz Collection: Masterpieces of Jewish Art, " exhibition catalogue, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1987, checklist item no. 17.
Silver (Chinese marks), repoussé, engraved and punched; parcel gilt.
Torah finials of the Oriental type, reminiscent in form of finials characteristic of Baghdad. Head in form of tapering dome, surmounted by knop. Body pear-shaped, decorated in vegetal patterns; topped with decorated disk-like ornament, and with flattened sphere at bottom. Each finial with eight dangling chains with chimes shaped like grains of wheat at their ends.
Dedicatory inscription (Hebrew) on each of the two finials: " In honor of the Prophet Elijah […, dedicated to] Musmeah Yeshua [Synagogue], Year 5648 [1887/88], Rangoon […]."
The Myanamar Jewish community is one of the smallest Jewish communities in East Asia. The Musmeah Yeshua Synagogue is the last surviving Jewish house of worship in the Lower City of Yangon, and, for that matter, the lone surviving synagogue in all of Myanmar. Established in 1857, it is nestled between private shops on a small street in the vicinity of the city center, and continues to serve the remaining members of Myanmar’s tiny Jewish community, most of them descendants of Sephardic Iraqi Jews.
Height: 19 cm.
Torah finials very similar to the present pair (with an identical inscription), but somewhat smaller, can be found in the Israel Museum Collection. See: The Israel Museum Collection, item no. B86.0167(a-b). See also: Chaya Benjamin, "The Stieglitz Collection: Masterpieces of Jewish Art, " exhibition catalogue, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1987, checklist item no. 17.