Bidspirit auction | Elaborate Torah Case with Pair

Elaborate Torah Case with Pair of Finials and Torah Scroll – Baghdad, 19th Century - Torah case, with Torah scroll and pair of finials. [Baghdad, Iraq], 19th century. Dedicatory inscription dated 1852. Silver sheet, repoussé and embossed; cast silver (unmarked); gilt; copper sheet; ink on brown Gevil parchment; ink and paint on paper. An elaborate early Baghdadi Torah case, with a pair of finials, Torah scroll and decorated dedicatory inscriptions. Characteristic style of early Iraqi Torah cases, with a prismatic shape and a dome topped with a pear-like ornament with bells on chains. The case is coated with smooth gilt silver sheets, with repoussé silver decorations in repeating patterns nailed on. Around the dome is a crown in a repeating vegetal pattern. The case is accompanied by a pair of finials, partially gilt and bearing engraved and repoussé dedicatory inscriptions: ”Belongs to Khatun wife of Pinchas HaKohen” and another faint inscription in repoussé, apparently dated 1865. At the top and bottom of the case is a dedicatory inscription engraved in two strips of text: ”This case and the Torah scroll in it were made by the woman Farha daughter of Suleiman Menachem Daniel, providing the owner of the scroll and her agents may take it and bring it to other places” (see below for more information on the Daniel family). The interior of the case features more inscriptions, written artistically on papers decorated in rich, colorful vegetal patterns, covered with glass panes. The right-hand inscription features verses relating to the Torah (such as Devarim 4:44, ”And this is the Torah…”), and the left-hand pane features a dedicatory inscription (differing from the outer inscription): ”This case and the Torah scroll in it were donated by the woman Khatun daughter of Hillel Moshe, wife of Yechezkel Avraham Shimon, [1852]” . This decorated inscription was almost certainly produced by the scribe and artist Yitzchak Meir Chaim Moshe Gabbai, who was active in Baghdad during that period and produced illuminated manuscripts of various kinds, including decorated parchment Esther scrolls. The inscriptions on the case reflect a custom prevalent in Iraq and nearby communities: when the decorated Torah cases wore out, the donor who provided for the repair and restoration of the object had his or her name memorialized on the case, sometimes replacing the older inscriptions (see: Bracha Yaniv, Maaseh Choshev – The Torah Case: Its History and Design, 1997, pp. 77-78 [Hebrew]). In the present Torah case, the interior inscriptions dated 1852 appear to be the earlier ones (and may be replacements of earlier inscriptions). The finials and their inscriptions were added at a later date, and the repoussé inscription on the exterior of the case is the latest, postdating 1867, apparently replacing an earlier inscription. This fact is evidenced by the identity of the woman mentioned in the inscription, Farha daughter of Suleiman Menachem Daniel. Farha was the granddaughter of Menachem Daniel son of Menachem Garji, a well-known Baghdadi magnate of the late 18th and early 19th century. Her father, Suleiman, mentioned in the dedicatory inscription with a blessing for the deceased, was murdered in 1867, indicating that the dedication was inscribed after this date. The case is accompanied by a Torah scroll, probably from Iraq or the region, from the second half of the 19th century, written on light brown Gevil parchment. Height of case: 97.5 cm. Diameter of base: 27 cm. Overall good condition. Warping, minor fractures to silver, mainly to edges, with some pieces lacking. Nails lacking. Slight wear to interior fabric coating. Many pieces lacking from copper sheet coating at bottom, and from wood. Finials: Height: 20.5 cm. Maximum width: 5.5 cm. Fair condition. Warping, fractures and defects. Loose screwing. Central part of one finial attached in reverse, with base lacking, replaced with a soldered rectangular silver plate. Chains lacking. Height of Torah scroll: 49.5 cm. Torah scroll is complete and in overall good condition. Stains. Much unraveling of seams. One sheet detached. Some words corrected in various places.