Early and Important Torah Shield – Bamberg, Bavaria, Ca. 1700

Torah shield. Bamberg, Germany, [ca. 1700 – late 17th or early 18th century].

Silver, cut, pierced, repoussé and engraved. Marked with the city mark of Bamberg – the letter B within an oval frame, used from the 17th through the 18th century, and a maker's mark, the initials SG within a heart-shaped frame; cast silver; parcel-gilt; set with gemstones.

Early, rare, and important Torah shield, apparently hitherto unrecorded. Belongs to a known group of some 20 Torah shields produced in Germany between ca. 1680-1720.

Composed of a rectangular silver plaque, mostly parcel-gilt, with borders repoussé with delicate wave motifs. Along the borders are riveted applied ornaments which form a frame around the shield: cast silver foliate ornaments on the right, left, and lower margins; the upper border features a repoussé and partially gilt foliate ornament.

Additional ornaments affixed with screws and nuts (a few with rivets), include: a large forward-protruding crown, a pair of rampant lions, and a double-headed eagle surmounted by a crown and mounted on a convex protrusion. These are interspersed with foliate ornaments: repoussé flowering branches, cast applications in the form of flowers and lions’ heads, and two six-pointed stars, some of which cover the rivets joining the parts to the plaque.

Shield set with eleven colored gemstones (originally thirteen), most placed in gilt floral petal-shaped silver settings. The combination of silver and parcel-gilt elements – sometimes layered – and the colorful gemstones, gives the plaque a vivid, three-dimensional and majestic appearance.

Beneath the crown ornament is a rectangular compartment for interchangeable plaques (lid missing; only one plaque enclosed: "Shavuot / Chol HaMoed", likely not original). Shield suspended on a triangular chain, apparently original.

Comparable Examples and Dating

Theodor Harburger documented several similar Torah shields in Bavaria during 1927-1930, including: a closely related shield, likely by the same silversmith (marked SG), recorded in Bamberg and dated 1703 (P160-177); another shield from Altenkunstadt, near Bamberg, dated 1715 (P160-338); and a different shield from Bamberg by another maker, dated to the 17th/18th century (P160, recorded in Munich).

Many of the decorative elements found on this piece appear on some of the earliest known German Torah shields, particularly those from Nuremberg, Augsburg, and Frankfurt am Main, dating from the late 17th century to ca. 1700. For example, similar crowns, double-headed eagles, lions, and cast floral ornaments are found on a Torah shield by Thomas Ringler of Nuremberg, 1661-1664, in the Jewish Museum, New York (item F 3686); and in a Nuremberg Torah shield, ca. 1700, in the Skirball Museum (item 7.21; see: Joseph Gutmann, Jewish Ceremonial Art, 1964, pl. III and front cover). A forward-protruding crown and gemstones also appear on a Torah shield from Augsburg, late 17th century, in the Jewish Museum, New York (item JM 29-52). The cast foliate ornaments along the borders are reminiscent of the openwork silver shields made by the Schüler family of Frankfurt, ca. 1700 (Jewish Museum, New York, item F 740 and others).

The Silversmith

The silversmith who signed with the initials SG within a heart-shaped frame is listed by Rosenberg (no. 1124), based on a parcel-gilt piece from a Bamberg church bearing the same city mark (B), dated to the 17th-18th century. Rosenberg provides no further details on the maker, but the present Torah shield – and likely also the 1703 shield documented by Harburger – can now be attributed to his oeuvre.

Height: 28 cm (64.5 cm including). Width: 30.5 cm. Overall good condition. Minor bends and blemishes. Missing pendants or bells to crown ornament and along the lower edge. Two gemstones missing. Lid of plaque compartment missing. Three rivets / ornaments missing from the double-headed eagle ornament. Crack to lower edge. Metal pin inserted above eagle ornament.

Bibliography:

· Rafi Grafman, Crowning Glory: Silver Torah Ornaments of the Jewish Museum, New York, New York, 1996, pp. 17-18, 24-34, nos. 15, 19, 102.

· Theodor Harburger, Die Inventarisation jüdischer Kunst- und Kulturdenkmäler in Bayern, Fürth: Jüdisches Museum Franken, 1998, pp. 4 (Altenkunstadt), 67 (Bamberg), and 403 (Munich).

· Rosenberg, Der Goldschmiede Merkzeichen, vol. 1, nos. 1091, 1124.