Bidspirit auction | Museal Item! Large and Beautiful

Museal Item! Large and Beautiful Ornate Persian Ketubah - Isfahan Iran, 1856 - ”למנין שאנו מנין כאן במתא דאצפהן” - Ornate Ketubah from Isfahan, Iran - with national Persian decorations, a lion human-faced sun Isfahan, Iran - 1856. Today, Isfahan is connoted with the Iranian nuclear program; yet in the recent past, the city had a glorious Jewish community which made a mark on the history of Iranian Jewry in particular and the Jewish Diaspora in general. The illustrated Ketubot of Isfahan are greatly regarded in the study of Jewish art. Central to the illustrations of the Ketubah are national motifs, which were common in Persia - figures of lions and a human-faced sun. Much was written in an attempt to explain the nationalism of Persian Jews (see: Haketubah BeIturim, Davidovich, p. 25). The Ketubah was written for the bridegroom Yehuda ben Ababa and the bride Sarah bat Yechezkel. The witnesses who signed the document: ”Yeshuah ben Rabbi Shmuel, the young Yekutiel Bachar Nuriel, the young Yeudah ben Rabbi Yosef, Mordechai Abba, Aharon ben David”.  Very large Ketubah. Approx. 62X64 cm.  Fold lines. Tears along the fold lines and a hole in the center affecting the text. Crude taping on verso. Wear. Fair condition.