Decorated ketubah documenting the marriage of the groom David Henriques, with the bride Yochevet[!] daughter of the wealthy David Levi Hasdai. The Hague, The Netherlands, June 2, 1767.
Spanish-Dutch parchment ketubah, set in an ornamental copper engraved border: In the right and left margins are two vases containing 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; an allegory of Caritas [charity]). The text was scribed 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. The text of the ketubah and Tena'im were handwritten in Sephardic script.
The engraving was produced in Amsterdam. The inspiration for this 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.
The ornamentation of this ketubah and the inscription printed at the bottom vary slightly from those appearing on other ketubot of this type (compare to Kedem Auction 61, item 96): the attire of the bride and groom which appear in the upper right corner were updated, reflecting fashion changes. A medallion with the image of a phoenix was added to the bottom of the cartouche and the inscription referring to R. Yitzchak Aboab was replaced with the inscription: "Pertenece ao K. K. de T. T. de Amsterdam Roshodes Kislef A° 5499 D = M" – "Belongs to the Amsterdam Talmud Torah community, Rosh Chodesh Kislev [November] 1738". About one hundred years previously, in 1639, the three Jewish congregations in Amsterdam of Sephardi and Portuguese origin, Beit Yaakov, Neveh Shalom and Beit Yisrael merged into one congregation named Talmud Torah. According to Prof. Shalom Sabar, the changes to this ketubah were made on the occasion of the centennial of the Talmud Torah congregation.
The signatures of the witnesses were affixed beneath the text of the ketubah: "Shlomo Saruk" (Hebrew) and "David J. Manuel Lopez de Almeyda" (in Latin characters), with the signature of the groom "David Henriques". These signatures appear again at the end of the Tena'im in the lower cartouche.
R. Shlomo Saruk, whose signature appears twice on the present ketubah, was the rabbi of the Sephardi community in The Hague in 1789-1852.
41X33 cm. Stains (change in color to initial word, presumably due to abrasion prior to writing). Creases. Large tear to left side of ketubah. Partially mounted on card.
Literature:
1. Ketubbah: Jewish marriage contracts of the Hebrew Union College Skirball Museum and Klau Library, by Shalom Sabar (NY, 1990), pp. 265-270; item 171.
2. The Oeuvre of the Jewish Engraver Salom Italia, by Mordechai Narkis, in: Tarbitz, Vol. 25, Issue 4, Tammuz 1956, pp. 441-451; Vol. 26, Issue 1, Tishrei 1956, pp. 87-101.
3. HaKetubah B'Iturim, by David Davidowitz. Tel Aviv: A. Levine-Epstein, 1979, pp. 21-24.