Spicebox. Brno, Moravia (today Czech Republic), 1863.
Silver (marked with Austro-Hungarian quality mark; with the letter “F” [Brno]; the year; and the maker’s mark [initials “EE” = Emanuel Eisler]); filigree; gilt.
Delicate spicebox in the shape of a tower with a tapering steeple surmounted by a flag. The top four corners of the cubic spice container are surmounted by four additional gilt flags.

Height: 25.5 cm. Overall good condition. Two of the legs and main flag warped.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.

An almost identical pair of Torah scroll cases, each with a matching pair of finials; both with dedicatory inscriptions for Eliyahu Moshe Dweck HaKohen – rabbi of the "Magen David" Congregation of Calcutta – and his wife. Calcutta (today Kolkata), India, dedicatory inscriptions dated 5687-5688 [1927-1928].

Wood, covered in a coat of sheet silver, repoussé, stamped, and engraved (each of the two cases marked on the bottom with the mark of the silversmith "Goopee Nath Dutt & Co., Bhowanipore, Calcutta"); silver, cast, turned and engraved; velvet cloth fabric. Without Torah scrolls.

Two almost identical Torah scroll cases (one slightly taller than the other), with matching ornamentation and decorative elements, each surmounted by a pair of finials. Exteriors covered with a coat of repoussé sheet silver adorned with recurrent vegetal patterns, arranged within ornate medallions. Each case capped with domes surmounted by pear-shaped ornaments, with bells dangling from chains suspended from their upper disks. Upper rims of bodies surmounted by circular tiara-shaped ornaments ("atarot") with a recurrent vegetal pattern. Both domes equipped with a pair of finials with matching vegetal decorative patterns. The finials are all pear-shaped, and capped by low-rising domes, in turn surmounted by conical ornaments at the apices. Interiors of cases coated in dark-blue velvet. The bases forming the bottoms of the cases, like the rest of the bodies, are covered in silver.

The interiors of each of the two cases feature two silver plaques engraved with lengthy dedicatory Hebrew inscriptions, on the flat surfaces of the opposing walls of each dome. Inscribed on the right plaque are verses related to the subject of the Torah: "And this is the teaching which Moses set before the children of Israel" (Deuteronomy 4: 44); "These are the statutes, the ordinances, and the laws that the Lord gave between Himself and the children of Israel on Mount Sinai, by the hand of Moses" (Leviticus 26: 46). The left plaque of each of the case bears personal inscriptions in memory of a couple, Eliyahu Moshe Dweck and his wife Gracia Dweck HaKohen. The plaque of the shorter case is dedicated to the husband, Eliyahu: "This case and the Torah scroll contained within were dedicated for the soul of R. Eliyahu Moshe Dweck HaKohen who passed away on Shabbat 12th Shevat 1927…"; the plaque of the taller case is dedicated to his wife, Gracia: "This case and the Torah scroll contained within were dedicated for the soul of Gracia wife of R. Eliyahu Moshe Dweck HaKohen, who passed away on Friday 25th Tammuz 1928…".

Rabbi Eliyahu Moshe Dweck Hakohen was the scion of a renowned rabbinic family from Aram Tzova (Haleb or Aleppo, Syria) who presided over Calcutta’s "Magen David" congregation for over 50 years. Among other things, he served as editor of "Perach, " a magazine that was the mouthpiece for the Calcuttan Jewish community originating from Baghdad. In 1881, he set up his own Hebrew printing house in Calcutta. Eliyahu Dweck was the son of rabbi Moshe ben Shim’on, one of the founders of the Iraqi-Syrian Jewish community in Calcutta in the 19th century (see a parokhet with a plaque bearing a memorial inscription dedicated to Moshe Shim’on Dweck Hakohen: Sotheby’s, New York, Steinhardt Collection, April 29, 2013, Item no. 337).

Height of shorter Torah case: 83.5 cm (finials: 17 cm); Height of taller Torah case: 86 cm (finials: 21 cm); diameter of both cases: 26 cm. Overall good condition. Minor tears to velvet cloth.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.

Decorative mezuzah cover (“jeta del mezuzah”) from the home of Leah Atia. Morocco, probably Fez (Fes). Ca. 1920s (after 1925).

Silver, sawed, pierced, and engraved (marked with Moroccan mark, in use beginning 1925); green velvet fabric over cardboard underpinning.
Silver plaque serving as a mezuzah cover, in the form of a shield, slightly pinched in the middle, adorned with vegetal patterns. The word “Shaddai” is pierced in the upper part of the cover, and just below this, the name of the homeowner, Leah Atia. Suspension ring on top.

Elegant mezuzah covers were among the most important of sacred objects in Moroccan Jewish households, and unlike other sacred items, they were regarded as the property of the housewife, and thus often carried her name. The mezuzah covers were most often made in gold-thread embroidery over a bold-colored fabric. Covers like this one, made of silver superimposed over velvet fabric, were also fairly common. Most of the silver covers were apparently made in Fez; many silversmiths are known to have lived and worked in the “mellah” (historic Jewish quarter) of Fez, and the design of this particular object is typical of the characteristic style of Fez’s Jewish craftsmen. In addition to being a feature of mezuzah covers, this style of silver openwork can also typically be found on bags for tallitot and tefillin.
For a literature reference on this subject (in Hebrew, by Shalom Sabar), please refer to the Hebrew entry.

25X15.5 cm. Overall good condition. Minor blemishes to edges of silver plaque. Velvet fabric thoroughly worn. Numerous gluing repairs on verso, incl. several strips of adhesive tape.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.

Memorial lamp, in memory of Bienvenida de Razon. Ottoman Empire, [1895].
Silver, cut, repoussé, and engraved (unmarked).

Silver memorial lamp, decorated in vegetal patterns characteristic of Jewish ritual objects originating from the Ottoman Empire. Back plate in shape of a pointed arch, with rich decorative patterns framed by a plain border. Lower border engraved with a (Hebrew) dedicatory inscription: "The Late Bienvenida de Razon… 11th of Adar, [1895]…". A broad, rectangular oil pan is soldered onto the bottom of the vertical plate. The oil pan has two pinched spouts soldered onto its two front corners.
The name “Bienvenida de Razon” suggests that this lamp derives from one of the Ladino-speaking communities of the Ottoman Empire and/or the Balkans. Families bearing this surname lived, among other places, in Greece and Turkey. One particular rabbi, Avraham Razon (d. 1910), is known to have resided in Istanbul.

Height: 18 cm. Maximal width: 15.5 cm. Good condition. Old soldering repairs on verso. Suspension hook on verso.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.