Sample Sources
The sources below are those contained in our three curated collections—covering themes of Passover, Gender Roles, and Holocaust Resistance. They represent a fraction of the thousands of sources that will be available when the full site launches in 2024.
Torah Finials (Iran)
These small Torah finials, decorated with silver repoussé and dark and light blue enamel, originated in Persia. They are further adorned with slender flowers and graceful geometric patterns.
Torah Finials (New York)
These silver Torah finials with bells adorned a Torah scroll at the consecration ceremony of the Mill Street Synagogue of Congregation Shearith Israel, which opened in New York in 1730 and was located…
Torah Finials (London)
These richly decorated Torah finials (rimonim), cast in silver and partly gilt, and adorned with many bells and topped with crowns, were created in London. The non-Jewish silversmith William Spackman…
Torah Finial (Amsterdam)
This belled gilt-silver Torah finial topped with a crown was made in Amsterdam and has been attributed to master silversmith Pieter van Hoven, who lived near the Jewish quarter and is best known for…
Torah Finials (Amsterdam)
These gilt-silver Torah finials were made in Amsterdam by master silversmith Pieter van Hoven, who lived near the Jewish quarter and is best known for the Jewish ceremonial objects he crafted. Cast…
Torah Finials (Amsterdam)
These belled, gilt-silver Torah finials topped with crowns were made in Amsterdam by master silversmith Pieter van Hoven, who lived near the Jewish quarter and is best known for the Jewish ceremonial…
Amulet Depicting Bes
Amulets often took the form of Bes, a minor Egyptian deity, who was understood to guard mothers in childbirth and their babies. Bes is often shown with a feathered headdress and a grotesque face, a…
Torah Finials (Amsterdam)
These silver and filigree Torah finials used by Amsterdam’s Ashkenazic community are shaped like four-tiered towers. They have gilt bells in their arches and gilt urns on their corners and are topped…
Amulet with Coat of Arms
Silver amulet typical of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Italian Jewish homes. This example from Venice is unusual in that it contains an unidentified family coat of arms whose main feature is a…
Amulet (Italy)
This cast and gilded bronze amulet from Italy includes a pair of dolphins as a design element. It is inscribed in Hebrew: “May no evil grieve you.”
Amulet for Rudolf II
This amulet was presented by members of the Jewish community of Prague to the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. At its center sits a seven-branched menorah surrounded by a prayer on Rudolf’s behalf…
Birth Amulet (Ukraine)
This impressive cut-paper birth amulet is in the form of the double eagle, the symbol of the Habsburg Monarchy (and pre-partition Poland) and thus a popular motif in Galician Jewish folk art. It is…