Silver Torah shield. [Italy, ca. mid-19th century].
Silver; repoussé and engraved; brass back.
Crown-form shield, with a Hebrew inscription. Brass-backed for protection.
Crown-form shields, known as demi-crowns, were used in Jewish communities of Italy and the Balkans.
23X13.5 cm. Good condition. Bends. Minor fractures to edges. Ink inscriptions. Lacking most of the original chain.
For an identical shield (apart from inscription), see Sotheby's Catalog, October 2000, item 46.

Pediment, cornice, side wings and pillars for a Torah ark. [Romania, 19th century?].
Carved and painted wood.
Pediment, cornice, side wings and pillars from a set of Torah ark ornaments. The intricate ornaments are painted in shades of brown, gold, red, green, blue and pale pink.
The ornaments are rearranged on a green wooden board. The two side wings, originally set on each side of the Torah ark, are fixed onto double doors. These ornaments are presumably only a few of a larger set of Torah ark ornaments.
Carved wooden Torah arks in Eastern European communities, especially Poland, Russia, Lithuania and the surroundings, where known for their size, splendor and iconographic richness. Romanian Torah arks also belong to this artistic tradition, but are significantly smaller. The animals adorning the Torah arks, chosen for their symbolism, are mostly mentioned in Perek Shirah.
Pediment: approx. 35X26 cm. Cornice: approx. 47X25 cm. Side wings: approx. 85X26 cm each. Pillars: 111 cm. Wooden board: approx. 150X63 cm, set on an 86 cm long pole. Fair-good condition. Losses to paint. Fractures, chipping, losses and cracks, repaired in part. Small holes.
Reference: Bracha Yaniv, Praising the Lord: Discovering a Song of Ascents on Carved Torah Arks in Eastern Europe, Ars Judaica, 2 (2006), pp. 83-102

Synagogue rug depicting a menorah, a crown and the Tablets of the Law. [Eretz Israel?], 1924/1925.
Wool knot-pile; wool foundation.
Synagogue rug comprising three panels. The middle panel is inscribed with a dedicatory inscription reading, "dedicated by R. Shmuel Hoffnung and his wife Miriam," with two verse excerpts: "The work of a master weaver you shall make them," and "And the Mishkan you shall make out of ten curtains" (Exodus 26:1), and with the year of presentation, 5684 anno mundi [1924/1925]. The central field is set with an oval medallion containing a menorah, surrounded by symmetrical vegetal motifs. These are flanked by two (possibly later) side panels depicting a pair of columns, one topped by a crown and the other by the Tablets of the Law.
145X217 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Large repair to center. Later fringe. Suspension strip sewn to upper edge on verso.
Provenance: The Anton Felton Collection.