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LOT 2:
Small Torah Shield – Eastern Europe, Probably Galicia, [First Half of 19th Century / 1824?]
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Start price:
$
7,500
Estimated price :
$12,000 - $16,000
Buyer's Premium: 25%
VAT: 17%
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Small Torah Shield – Eastern Europe, Probably Galicia, [First Half of 19th Century / 1824?]
Silver, cast, pierced, repoussé, and engraved; gilt.
Hallmark: Quality mark: "84".
Small, graceful Torah shield, consisting of a plain, undecorated silver back plate overlaid with gilt silver plates, bearing ornate architectonic patterns and rocaille and acanthus patterns, nailed onto it with rivets. In addition to the architectonic and vegetal decorations, there are images of various animals, including a pair of lions, a pair of vultures, a pair of swans, and a pair of rabbits. At the center of the Torah shield is a pair of pierced doors that open and close (on hinges) to expose an underlying ornament in the form of the Tablets of the Law, inscribed with the abbreviated Ten Commandments, embedded in the silver back plate. An (early) inscription is engraved on the back: "JH 824"; this is most likely a reference to the year the Torah shield was created. Lengthy suspension chain.
This Torah crown is fashioned after carved wooden Eastern European Torah arks; the animal images that appear upon it are characteristic of the decorative art of Galicia (today, southeastern Poland and western Ukraine).
For comparison, see: Crowning Glory, item nos. 186 and 190; Synagoga, Recklinghausen: Städtische Kunsthalle, 1960, item no. C55; and see also Chaya Benjamin, The Stieglitz Collection: Masterpieces of Jewish Art, exhibition catalogue, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1987, item nos. 22-23, and 28.
Height: 16.5 cm. Width: 13 cm. Good condition.
Exhibitions:
1. London, Exhibition of Jewish Art and Antiquities, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1906, item no. 1103.
2. Glasgow, Festival of Jewish Arts Exhibition, McLellan Galleries, 1951, item no. 242.
3. Basel, Jewish Museum of Switzerland, JMS 1002.
Provenance:
1. Collection of Solomon David Schloss (1815-1911).
2. Lewis Raphael Castle (1858-1932), son of the above.
3. Peter Castle (1922-2011), grandson of the above.
4. Heirs of the above.
This item appears in the inventory list of the Schloss Collection, dated 1923 (see appendix, pp. 146-148), and is documented in a 1931 collection photograph (see p. 11).
