Auction 61 - Rare and Important Items
Small Esther Scroll in an Elaborate Filigree Case - Poland, 1838 - Gift for a Groom
Opening: $2,000
Sold for: $12,500
Including buyer's premium
Esther Scroll on parchment, in an elaborate filigree case, given as a gift to a groom. Praszka (Poland), dedication dated 1838.
Ink on parchment; cast and engraved silver; filigree, gilding; gemstones.
"HaMelech" Scroll (most columns open with "HaMelech"), with ornamented serifs (Tagim). Fine scribal writing. 22 lines per column.
The scroll is housed in a filigree case inlaid with gemstones, topped with a crown. A ring is attached to the clasp for pulling out the scroll, designed as a snake biting its tail and inlaid with a gemstone. An engraved dedication appears on the bottom of the case, on a silver plaque: "the groom Avraham son of Haim Kempner, in Praszka, 5598" (Hebrew).
A Jewish community resided in the town of Praszka in the Opole Voivodeship, near the Czechoslovakian border, since the early 17th century. In 1812 Haim (Joachim) Kempner, father of the receiver of this Esther Scroll, leased the foundry in the village of Grabow from the owner, Prince Radziwiłł. From the 1820s Kempner grew agricultural produce and cattle on the lands which he leased, and in 1832 he was the first Jew in Poland who got permission to acquire lands (for more information about Kempner and the Jewish community in Praszka, see: Pinkas HaKehilot, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 1976. First volume, pp.204-205).
Height of parchment: 8.5 cm. Height of case: approx. 24.5 cm. Fair-good condition. Handle is broken and detached. Clasp is almost totally detached (unraveled sewing). One of the crown's staves is lacking. Bent crown. Bends. Breaks. Lacking gemstones. Minute holes to parchment.
Ink on parchment; cast and engraved silver; filigree, gilding; gemstones.
"HaMelech" Scroll (most columns open with "HaMelech"), with ornamented serifs (Tagim). Fine scribal writing. 22 lines per column.
The scroll is housed in a filigree case inlaid with gemstones, topped with a crown. A ring is attached to the clasp for pulling out the scroll, designed as a snake biting its tail and inlaid with a gemstone. An engraved dedication appears on the bottom of the case, on a silver plaque: "the groom Avraham son of Haim Kempner, in Praszka, 5598" (Hebrew).
A Jewish community resided in the town of Praszka in the Opole Voivodeship, near the Czechoslovakian border, since the early 17th century. In 1812 Haim (Joachim) Kempner, father of the receiver of this Esther Scroll, leased the foundry in the village of Grabow from the owner, Prince Radziwiłł. From the 1820s Kempner grew agricultural produce and cattle on the lands which he leased, and in 1832 he was the first Jew in Poland who got permission to acquire lands (for more information about Kempner and the Jewish community in Praszka, see: Pinkas HaKehilot, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 1976. First volume, pp.204-205).
Height of parchment: 8.5 cm. Height of case: approx. 24.5 cm. Fair-good condition. Handle is broken and detached. Clasp is almost totally detached (unraveled sewing). One of the crown's staves is lacking. Bent crown. Bends. Breaks. Lacking gemstones. Minute holes to parchment.