Lot 215
Wooden Plate Inlaid with Marble and Shell – Bezalel
Wooden plate inlaid with marble and shell. Made at Bezalel, Jerusalem, [first decades of the 20th century].
Carved wood; engraved marble; engraved shell.
Large plate, with the Seven Species carved on its margins. Inlaid in the center are marble plaques shaped as the Tablets of the Law with inscribed blessings - "HaMotzih" and "Boreh Pri HaGafen". Around this image are inlaid pieces of shell. An inlaid piece of shell shaped as a Star of David appears below the Tablets, with an engraved inscription: "If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem, Let my Right Hand Forget its Skill" (Hebrew).
Inlaid all around, in a circle, are marble plaques with the symbols of the Tribes and around them blue wooden plaques with the words "Eat your bread with joy…" (Hebrew) and shell plaques decorated with views of the Temple Mount, Rachel's Tomb, Tower of David, Cave of the Patriarchs and Bezalel buildings (one plaque is missing).
The catalogue "Early Israeli Arts and Crafts, Bezalel Treasures from the Allan B. Slifka Collection" by Chaya Benjamin (Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 2008) features a similar plate created after a sketch by Ze'ev Raban (p. 66).
Diameter: 40 cm. Fair condition. Cracks and fractures to wood. Missing shell and wooden plaques. Fractures and missing pieces to marble and wooden plaques.
