Ketubah (Hamburg)

Artist Unknown

1690

Page of Aramaic text surrounded by ornate illustrations, including couple under wedding canopy at the top of the page with many well-dressed people around them and two angels flying overhead, and two women on pedestals on either side of the bottom of the page on either side of a wreath with text inside.

On June 7, 1690, Samuel de Isaac Senior Teixeira married Rachel Teixeira de Mattos Senior in Hamburg. Their beautiful ketubah (marriage contract) depicts the couple under the wedding canopy, accompanied by their parents, members of a wealthy and heavily intermarried family of Portuguese Jews, former New Christians. The artist also depicted the wedding guests, probably family members and important community members, as well as musicians. The wedding ceremony was conducted by Abraham Cohen Pimental (d. 1697), an Amsterdam rabbi who also served at the synagogue in Hamburg. On the bottom half of the ketubah are two female figures embodying the virtues of love and abundance. Above the left-hand figure is an adaptation of the biblical verse Ruth 4:11, mentioning the bride’s name: “The Lord make the woman that is come into thy house like Rachel and like Leah.” Above the figure on the right is a verse mentioning the groom’s name (1 Samuel 3:19): “And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him.”

Credits

Collection Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam, M010382.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

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