Bidspirit auction | Elaborate Silver-Coated Torah Case –

Elaborate Silver-Coated Torah Case – Aleppo Community in Calcutta, India, 1903 – Dweck Cohen Family - Torah case from the Aleppo community in Calcutta (Kolkata), India. Possibly produced in India, 1903. Silver sheet, repoussé, pierced and engraved; cast silver (unmarked); wood; copper sheet. Without Torah scroll. A rare and elegant exemplar of Torah scrolls from the Aleppo community in Calcutta, preserving the form of Torah cases from Iraq and the Near East, yet decorated with techniques and patterns characteristic of the Far East (India, Burma and China). The case is coated with a large repoussé silver sheet, fashioned with rich vegetal patterns. The decorations include twisting branches, flowers and large leaves in various symmetrical patterns. The top edge of the case features a crown in a repeating vegetal pattern. The top of the case features a large, pointed dome, decorated in matching vegetal pattern, topped by a bud-like ornament also decorated in vegetal patterns. The case includes a long, narrow Torah pointer, half rectangular and half rounded, with a suspension ring. The pointer is suspended from two designated rings near the opening of the case. The interior of the case features two silver plates with inscriptions. On the right-hand plate are relevant Torah verses, while the second one bears a dedicatory inscription: ”This case and the Torah in it are in memory of the soul of Yosef Netanel Chai Yosef Dweck Cohen, passed away Friday, 29th Kislev 1903”. Members of the Syrian community arrived in Calcutta in the late 18th century: in 1798, Shalom son of Ovadiah Cohen of Baghdad, originally from Aleppo, settled in Calcutta; he was later joined by his fellow townsman Shimon Dweck Cohen and his son-in-law Moshe Dweck Cohen, who contributed to securing a permanent community in the city. Yosef Netanel Chai Yosef Dweck Cohen probably belonged to the third generation of the Dweck Cohen family in Calcutta. The wedding ketubah (Calcutta, 1866) of Netanel Chai (son of Yosef Tzemach) Dweck Cohen – probably Yosef Netanel's father, to whom the present case is dedicated – is held in the New York Public Library. The Dweck Cohen family, descendants of a famous rabbinic family from Aleppo, were the first Jewish settlers in the city, and the foundation of the Iraqi-Syrian community that was later to develop a Baghdadi character. The family headed the Magen David community in Calcutta for decades, and one member of the family edited the Perach periodical of the Baghdadi community of Calcutta and even established a Hebrew press in the city. Height: 85 cm. Diameter of base: 26 cm. Overall good condition. Does not contain finials or Torah scroll. Minor warping and defects to silver sheets, mainly to edges. Some screws lacking. Ornaments (medallions) and coins lacking around top ornament. Some old soldering repairs. Slight corrosion. One hinge may be lacking from back of case. Length of Torah pointer: 34 cm. Literature: Bracha Yaniv, Maaseh Choshev – The Torah Case: Its History and Design, Bar Ilan University and Ben-Zvi Institute, 1997, pp. 96-99 (Hebrew).