Auction 61 - Rare and Important Items
Parchment Ketubah - Elaborate Engraved Frame - Hague, Netherlands, 1742 - Teixeira de Andrade and Suasso Families
Opening: $2,500
Sold for: $13,750
Including buyer's premium
Ketubah recording the marriage of Avraham son of the late Yitzchak Teixeira de Andrade with Sarah daughter of Yitzchak Yisrael Suasso. "Hague, the capital of Holland", August 1742.
Spanish-Dutch parchment ketubah, adorned with a high-quality copper engraving: In the right and left margins are two vases with large bouquets, on which various birds and animals are perched. These are topped by images of a bride and groom in contemporary attire (on the right) and a mother with two children (on the left; allegory to Caritas [charity]). The text is written in Sephardi script and appears between two rounded pillars entwined with branches, crowned with an arch. On both sides of the arch are two Cherubs holding a drapery bearing the inscription "B'Siman Tov". At the bottom of the engraving is a large Rococo cartouche in which the tena'im were written.
Two inscriptions in Latin letters appear in the bottom margins - on the left: "27 Adar Seni A° 5453 Yom Sabat Kodes" and on the right: "H. Y. Aboab" referring to the date of the death (the 27th of Adar Bet 1693) of Chacham Isaac Aboab (da Fonseca the III), Rabbi of the Amsterdam community.
The inspiration for this copper-engraving was the design of two Dutch ketubot created in 1648 and in 1654 by the artist and engraver Shalom Mordechai Italia. Shalom Italia, who arrived in Holland from Mantua, was also known for creating two Scrolls of Esther and portraits of Jacob Judah Leon Templo and of Menasseh ben Israel.
On the bottom of the ketubah are the signatures of the groom (in Latin letters) and of the witnesses: Daniel HaCohen Rodriguez (in Hebrew) and Aharon da Costa Abend (da Costa published a Spanish translation of Tikun Lel Hoshana Rabba in Amsterdam in 1735). The same signatures also appear at the end of the tena'im written on the bottom cartouche. The name of the attorney who drew up the agreement - "The famous attorney… Joannes Zeithof" is mentioned both in the text of the ketubah and of the tena'im.
Kedem Catalog no. 59 included a ketubah from 1742 (lot 339) which records the marriage of Yitzchak son of the late Moshe Yisrael Suasso (apparently, a cousin of the aforementioned bride) with Rachel daughter of Ya'akov Teixeira de Andrade (sister of the aforementioned groom); also see the ketubah from 1750 in the collection of ketubot of the Israel Museum in Tel Aviv, recording the marriage of Avraham son of Yitzchak Yisrael Suasso (relative of the aforementioned groom) with the bride Esther daughter of Yitzchak Teixeira de Andrade (another sister of the aforementioned bride).
34.5X42 cm. Few stains. Creases and small tears to margins.
Literature:
1. Ketubbah: Jewish marriage contracts of the Hebrew Union College Skirball Museum and Klau Library, Shalom Sabar (NY, 1990), pp. 265-270, no. 171.
2. The Oeuvre of the Jewish Engraver Salom Italia, by Mordechai Narkis, in: Tarbiz, Vol. 25, Issue 4, Tamuz 1957, pp. 441-451; Vol. 26, Issue 1, Tishrei 1957, pp. 87-101.
3. HaKetubah B'Iturim, David Davidowitz. Published by A. Levine-Epstein, Tel Aviv, 1979, pp. 21-24.
Spanish-Dutch parchment ketubah, adorned with a high-quality copper engraving: In the right and left margins are two vases with large bouquets, on which various birds and animals are perched. These are topped by images of a bride and groom in contemporary attire (on the right) and a mother with two children (on the left; allegory to Caritas [charity]). The text is written in Sephardi script and appears between two rounded pillars entwined with branches, crowned with an arch. On both sides of the arch are two Cherubs holding a drapery bearing the inscription "B'Siman Tov". At the bottom of the engraving is a large Rococo cartouche in which the tena'im were written.
Two inscriptions in Latin letters appear in the bottom margins - on the left: "27 Adar Seni A° 5453 Yom Sabat Kodes" and on the right: "H. Y. Aboab" referring to the date of the death (the 27th of Adar Bet 1693) of Chacham Isaac Aboab (da Fonseca the III), Rabbi of the Amsterdam community.
The inspiration for this copper-engraving was the design of two Dutch ketubot created in 1648 and in 1654 by the artist and engraver Shalom Mordechai Italia. Shalom Italia, who arrived in Holland from Mantua, was also known for creating two Scrolls of Esther and portraits of Jacob Judah Leon Templo and of Menasseh ben Israel.
On the bottom of the ketubah are the signatures of the groom (in Latin letters) and of the witnesses: Daniel HaCohen Rodriguez (in Hebrew) and Aharon da Costa Abend (da Costa published a Spanish translation of Tikun Lel Hoshana Rabba in Amsterdam in 1735). The same signatures also appear at the end of the tena'im written on the bottom cartouche. The name of the attorney who drew up the agreement - "The famous attorney… Joannes Zeithof" is mentioned both in the text of the ketubah and of the tena'im.
Kedem Catalog no. 59 included a ketubah from 1742 (lot 339) which records the marriage of Yitzchak son of the late Moshe Yisrael Suasso (apparently, a cousin of the aforementioned bride) with Rachel daughter of Ya'akov Teixeira de Andrade (sister of the aforementioned groom); also see the ketubah from 1750 in the collection of ketubot of the Israel Museum in Tel Aviv, recording the marriage of Avraham son of Yitzchak Yisrael Suasso (relative of the aforementioned groom) with the bride Esther daughter of Yitzchak Teixeira de Andrade (another sister of the aforementioned bride).
34.5X42 cm. Few stains. Creases and small tears to margins.
Literature:
1. Ketubbah: Jewish marriage contracts of the Hebrew Union College Skirball Museum and Klau Library, Shalom Sabar (NY, 1990), pp. 265-270, no. 171.
2. The Oeuvre of the Jewish Engraver Salom Italia, by Mordechai Narkis, in: Tarbiz, Vol. 25, Issue 4, Tamuz 1957, pp. 441-451; Vol. 26, Issue 1, Tishrei 1957, pp. 87-101.
3. HaKetubah B'Iturim, David Davidowitz. Published by A. Levine-Epstein, Tel Aviv, 1979, pp. 21-24.