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