Showing Results 81 - 90 of 251
In 1670, Amsterdam’s Portuguese Jewish community commissioned a new synagogue, which, when finished, was the largest in the world. The master mason Elias Bouman (ca. 1636–1686), a non-Jew, who had…
These silver Torah finials are from Corfu and were made between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, by an artist whose initials were A.Z. They were used in the Scuola Greca Synagogue, which…
Made in Prague, this Torah ark curtain is exquisitely ornamented with embroidery of silk, silk velvet, and metallic thread. Set against a vivid red background, its borders and central panel are…
This lacquered, cylindrical case for a Torah scroll was made from a combination of wood, bronze, and iron in Kaifeng, China. (The hard-sided Torah case was a Sephardic tradition. It offered more…
This silver circumcision set was crafted in Salonika in the Ottoman Empire. The cylindrical silver casket holds a circumcision knife; its handle is made from agate. A similarly shaped powder box and…
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…
This Torah mantle was made in Vienna in the eighteenth century. It is embroidered with silk and metallic thread, metallic ribbon, and has metallic fringes. Set against a red background, this mantle’s…
This silver Torah crown from Padua, Italy, is decorated with images of the tablets of law, incense utensils, the ark of the covenant,
and the headdress of the high priest.
The German holy community of Amsterdam was founded in the year 5396 [1635/6]. This I discovered in a few pages of a book written by Maharam Maarsen, one of the first German Jews in…
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…
