Ze'ev Raban (1890-1970), collection of sketches for Judaica items for the Orthodox Jewish community in Auckland, New Zealand. Jerusalem, 1949.
Ink, pencil and colored pencils on paper.
Sketches for Torah shields and pointers. Included: • Sketch (and carbon copy) for a shield decorated with a lion and vines. Dedicatory inscription on shield (Hebrew): "Dedicated in memory of the communal workers and philanthropists of the Chevra Kaddisha in Auckland". Signed and dated by Raban. • Sketch for a shield decorated with pomegranates, a menorah, Tablets of the Law, a lion and stag. Dedicatory inscription (English): "In Memory of Rabbi Samuel Aaron Goldstein, Minister, Auckland Hebrew Com[munity], President, Auckland Zionist Assoc[iation]". With two sketches for a Torah pointer. Stamped with the inked stamp of Raban's studio. • Sketch (and carbon copy) for a Torah pointer, dedicated to "The Jewish soldiers who gave up their lives in the war against the Nazi enemy, and in the Independence war of Israel 1947-1949"; "designed for the Chevra Kaddisha of Auckland" (Hebrew). Signed and dated by Raban. Stamped with the inked stamp of Raban's studio.
Size and condition vary.
Provenance: Estate of Shlomo Kedmi.

Ze'ev Raban (1890-1970), The Wild Rooster, pin and sketches for it.
Brass, repoussé; pencil on paper.
Round decorative pin, depicting the wild rooster from the legend of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The wild rooster (the hoopoe) is a recurrent motif in Raban's works. See for instance "Ze'ev Raban: a Hebrew Symbolist", pp. 126, 169; "Schatz's Bezalel", item 911. Enclosed with the pin are two sketches for it.
Pin: diameter approx. 4.5 cm. Good condition. Minor bends. Two sketches on one leaf, diameter approx. 4.5 cm each. Good condition. Stains and tears to leaf, not affecting sketches.
Literature:
1. Batsheva Goldman Ida, Ze'ev Raban: a Hebrew Symbolist. Tel Aviv and Jerusalem: Tel Aviv Museum of Art and Yad Yitzhak Ben Zvi, 2001.
2. Schatz's Bezalel 1906-1929, Catalog Listing of Objects in the Exhibition. Jerusalem: the Israel Museum, 1983.
Provenance: Estate of Shlomo Kedmi.

Ze'ev Raban (1890-1970), sketches of coins, based on coins from the Hasmonean kingdom, the Herodian kingdom, the Bar Kokhba revolt; and pendants and pins made based on these sketches. [Jerusalem, 1950s].
Lot includes: • Ten large sketches based on eight early coins (some taken from both sides of the same coin). Pencil and ink on paper. All bear the stamp of Raban's studio.
40X50 cm on average. Good-fair condition. Tears, stains and blemishes. Some repairs with acidic adhesive tape.
• Eight medallions, mostly based on the present sketches; some double-sided. One pendant depicts the Tower of David on verso, and one depicts the Roaring Lion Monument in Tel-Hai.

Diameter: approx. 26 to 30 mm. Good condition. Minor stains and corrosion.
• 13 pins based on these sketches and on other early coins.

Diameter: 10 mm (apart from two pins, which are 23 mm in diameter). Good condition.
Provenance: Estate of Shlomo Kedmi.

Ze'ev Raban (1890-1970), "Women of Israel Give Us Your Jewels, " sketch for the "Gold Fund for Hebrew Women" ("Keren Hazahav"). [Jerusalem, 1902's].
Pen and wash on paper. Stamped "Ze'ev Raban, Jerusalem" (Hebrew).
The "Gold Fund" was established during the World Zionist Conference in London (1920), as part of Keren Hayesod, with the purpose of collecting donations of gold jewelry and then selling the gold to fund construction works in Palestine.
On verso: an additional sketch for an illustration to Bialik's legend "King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba."
Both sketches appear in the catalogue "Ze'ev Raban: a Hebrew Symbolist", pp. 94 and 124.
24X16.5 cm. Good condition. Minor stains and blemishes.
Literature: Batsheva Goldman Ida, Ze'ev Raban: a Hebrew Symbolist. Tel Aviv and Jerusalem: Tel Aviv Museum of Art and Yad Yitzhak Ben Zvi, 2001.
Provenance: Estate of Shlomo Kedmi.

Ze'ev Raban (1890-1970), sketch for the Jerusalem Printing Works building, made for the publisher Shlomo Salzman. [Jerusalem, 1919].
Ink on paper. With the stamp of Raban's studio.

The sketch depicts a three-domed building, with many decorative elements and designs in Raban's typical style. The central dome is topped with a statue of a bearded man (distinctly reminiscent of Boris Schatz's Matityahu), holding up a scroll with the inscription "Am HaSefer" [People of the Book].
Shlomo Salzman, a prominent Hebrew publisher in Russia and Germany, was the owner of the Kadima publishing house in Odessa, the Salzman publishing house which relocated with him from St. Petersburg to Berlin, and the HaSefer publishing house in Berlin. After he left Russia in 1919 and before he settled in Berlin, he paid a visit to Jerusalem where he wished to establish a printing press and publishing house.
Dr. Gil Weissblei, in his book "The Revival of the Hebrew Book Art in Weimar Germany" (2019, pp. 87-99; Hebrew), writes about Salzman's efforts to establish a colossal publishing district named Kiryat Sefer in Jerusalem – "A special district […] on the outskirts of Jerusalem, which would comprise printing presses; workshops […] factories for printing blocks; bookbinderies; warehouses for paper, paint, and binding equipment; and more". Together with a few Zionist activists who shared his vision, he managed the "Am HaSefer" company, to raise the funds needed for establishing this publishing enterprise. Amongst its other activities, the company acquired Ze'ev Raban's "Song of Songs" and his illustrations to the book "Aleph Bet". Concurrently, the company commissioned Raban to design the proposed printing house: "A receipt for the sum of eight lirot to the artist Ze'ev Raban indicates that Salzman received from him, on September 1, 1919, a drawing of the proposed Jerusalem Printing Works building. Raban […] was a rising star in the field of Hebrew art in those days – though without formal architectural education […]. According to Weissblei, the architectural and engineering plans were prepared by the engineer Ben Zion Gini, based on Raban's proposal. Due to the 1920 Palestine riots, Salzman was compelled to abandon his dream, and he left Jerusalem for Berlin, where he established the HaSefer publishing house.
Weissblei notes that he did not see the plan itself, and that Raban's archive deposited in the Jerusalem municipality archive comprises items beginning from 1922. The present item is therefore the missing plan from Raban's estate which was passed on to his partner, Shlomo Kedmi.

Approx. 54X33 cm. Fair-good condition. Marginal closed and open tears. Stains. Fold lines. Tears to center of leaf, along vertical fold (repaired with tape on verso).

Literature: Gil Weissblei, "The Revival of the Hebrew Book Art in Weimar Germany". Jerusalem: Carmel, 2019.
Provenance: Estate of Shlomo Kedmi.