Lot Essay
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APPARENTLY UNMARKED PROBABLY VENICE OR ROME 17TH CENTURY
Details
A HIGHLY IMPORTANT ITALIAN GOLD SCROLL OF ESTHER CASE, WITH DECORATED CONTEMPORARY SCROLL OF ESTHER
Apparently unmarked probably Venice or Rome 17th Century
CASE:
The cylindrical gold case, centred by a baluster two handled vase on stand with naturalistic scrolling flowers and foliage, and granulated semi circular flower wreath, above the Tablets of the Law inscribed in Hebrew with the key words of the Ten Commandments, lateral blossoms support on the right a censer, (suspending chains now lacking), and two campana shaped pots with flowers, on the left the High Priest's mitre and the Menorah; domed top with floral pot finial decorated en suite to the body, the cylindrical case underneath applied with Gothic style ornaments, trefoil and interwoven beaded circles on plain ground and surrounded by corded rims, the slightly tapering cylindrical handle with fluted and filigree floral swirling bands,terminating in filigree open worked flower, the thumbpiece with applied filigree diaper and pellet design, and central double corded suspension loop.
22cm. (8¾in.) high.
124gr. (including scroll)
SCROLL:
Megillah on vellum, 4 membranes, 8.3 cm high, 150 cm long, 20 columns (the first containing blessings recited before and after the megillah reading) of 22 lines, 7.2 cm. high, blind horizontal and vertical ruling, 17th century Italian square script in brown ink with taggin (crownlets). Each membrane embellished in upper, lower and vertical margins with continuous roll-tooled gilt decoration, consisting of three elements: a stylized flower, three dots, and a round decorative motif, likely depicting a crescent moon and star. Imprint of roll tool clearly visible on verso. Gilt ornament coordinates with hue of the megillah's gold case, suggesting that the two pieces represent an original set.
CONDITION OF SCROLL:
A few damp stains and two minor marginal tears in the first four columns only, affecting legibility of a few letters in the last three lines of the first text column. The marginal gilt decoration with some occasional minor scuffing, otherwise excellently preserved.
Among the scant remains of early Italian Jewish ceremonial art are some of the most elegant and luxurious Judaica objects ever produced. Exquisitely carved Torah arks, ornately crafted Torah finials, richly embroidered Torah curtains, mantles and binders: all attest to the ability of Italian Jews, despite their confinement to ghettos, to fill their synagogues with objects of both great beauty and substantial monetary value, The desire for such luxurious ritual items, however, clearly permeated the private sphere as well: from Italian Jewish homes come ornate Hanukkah lamps, precious amulets, and exquisite spice containers. No object, however, whether designed for communal or personal use, better embodies the ostentatious grandeur of the finest early Italian Judaica than the present Esther scroll case: representing the pinnacle of luxury, it is formed entirely of gold.
Surely due to the considerable expense of gold, even the most sumptuous Jewish ceremonial objects produced in Italy, and in fact throughout the European continent, were typically made of silver (sometimes gilt). The rarity of gold Judaica is well attested by the fact that few public collections hold even a single 17th-18th-century Continental ceremonial object made of gold (marriage rings excepted). It is therefore clear that this solid gold Esther scroll case represents a highly unusual commission, one that would have effectively conveyed, within the home and synagogue, the privileged financial and social position of its owner.
In all likelihood, this commission was entrusted to a goldsmith working in Rome or Venice. Supporting a Roman provenance is the case's dynamic design, which displays motifs that became ubiquitous on Italian Jewish ceremonial objects -- the Tablets of the Law, the Menorah, the High Priest's mitre, and a censer -- in a highly creative and integrative setting. By placing the Temple implements upon the blossoms of a lush, undulating plant, the case's maker indeed created an object of "extraordinary richness and exuberance", characteristics that Dora Liscia Bemporad specifically associates with the works of Roman craftsmen, who produced "some of the highest-quality work in the entire (Italian) peninsula". Also plausible, however, is a Venetian provenance for the case; for, by the end of the 17th Century, Venice was a primary center of Judaica production, supplying Jewish communities throughout Italy with their ornate ceremonial objects. That goldsmiths in Venice had, for many centuries, embellished their pieces with exquisite filigree designs further points to a Venetian origin. As attested by a few remarkable spice containers (cf. Lot 325 in this sale, and Jewish Museum of New York (F3140) and several marriage rings (cf. Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 102/08), Venetian filigree work was both prized and commissioned by Italian Jews of the 17th Century.
Whether a product of Rome or Venice, this extraordinary case finds a true parallel in only one other extant ceremonial object, Undoubtedly by the same maker, a second gold megillah case (Christie's Amsterdam, 25 November 1997, lot 485; now in private hands) displays essentially the same design as the present piece, differing only in the embellishment of its finial, thumbpiece and handle, Lacking from that case, however, is its original parchment scroll, which has been replaced by an undecorated megillah from the 19th Century. That the elegant and restrained gilt borders of the present megillah are executed in precisely the same hue as the case itself strongly suggests that this 17th-century scroll was in fact designed to complement its extravagant container.
Apparently unmarked probably Venice or Rome 17th Century
CASE:
The cylindrical gold case, centred by a baluster two handled vase on stand with naturalistic scrolling flowers and foliage, and granulated semi circular flower wreath, above the Tablets of the Law inscribed in Hebrew with the key words of the Ten Commandments, lateral blossoms support on the right a censer, (suspending chains now lacking), and two campana shaped pots with flowers, on the left the High Priest's mitre and the Menorah; domed top with floral pot finial decorated en suite to the body, the cylindrical case underneath applied with Gothic style ornaments, trefoil and interwoven beaded circles on plain ground and surrounded by corded rims, the slightly tapering cylindrical handle with fluted and filigree floral swirling bands,terminating in filigree open worked flower, the thumbpiece with applied filigree diaper and pellet design, and central double corded suspension loop.
22cm. (8¾in.) high.
124gr. (including scroll)
SCROLL:
Megillah on vellum, 4 membranes, 8.3 cm high, 150 cm long, 20 columns (the first containing blessings recited before and after the megillah reading) of 22 lines, 7.2 cm. high, blind horizontal and vertical ruling, 17th century Italian square script in brown ink with taggin (crownlets). Each membrane embellished in upper, lower and vertical margins with continuous roll-tooled gilt decoration, consisting of three elements: a stylized flower, three dots, and a round decorative motif, likely depicting a crescent moon and star. Imprint of roll tool clearly visible on verso. Gilt ornament coordinates with hue of the megillah's gold case, suggesting that the two pieces represent an original set.
CONDITION OF SCROLL:
A few damp stains and two minor marginal tears in the first four columns only, affecting legibility of a few letters in the last three lines of the first text column. The marginal gilt decoration with some occasional minor scuffing, otherwise excellently preserved.
Among the scant remains of early Italian Jewish ceremonial art are some of the most elegant and luxurious Judaica objects ever produced. Exquisitely carved Torah arks, ornately crafted Torah finials, richly embroidered Torah curtains, mantles and binders: all attest to the ability of Italian Jews, despite their confinement to ghettos, to fill their synagogues with objects of both great beauty and substantial monetary value, The desire for such luxurious ritual items, however, clearly permeated the private sphere as well: from Italian Jewish homes come ornate Hanukkah lamps, precious amulets, and exquisite spice containers. No object, however, whether designed for communal or personal use, better embodies the ostentatious grandeur of the finest early Italian Judaica than the present Esther scroll case: representing the pinnacle of luxury, it is formed entirely of gold.
Surely due to the considerable expense of gold, even the most sumptuous Jewish ceremonial objects produced in Italy, and in fact throughout the European continent, were typically made of silver (sometimes gilt). The rarity of gold Judaica is well attested by the fact that few public collections hold even a single 17th-18th-century Continental ceremonial object made of gold (marriage rings excepted). It is therefore clear that this solid gold Esther scroll case represents a highly unusual commission, one that would have effectively conveyed, within the home and synagogue, the privileged financial and social position of its owner.
In all likelihood, this commission was entrusted to a goldsmith working in Rome or Venice. Supporting a Roman provenance is the case's dynamic design, which displays motifs that became ubiquitous on Italian Jewish ceremonial objects -- the Tablets of the Law, the Menorah, the High Priest's mitre, and a censer -- in a highly creative and integrative setting. By placing the Temple implements upon the blossoms of a lush, undulating plant, the case's maker indeed created an object of "extraordinary richness and exuberance", characteristics that Dora Liscia Bemporad specifically associates with the works of Roman craftsmen, who produced "some of the highest-quality work in the entire (Italian) peninsula". Also plausible, however, is a Venetian provenance for the case; for, by the end of the 17th Century, Venice was a primary center of Judaica production, supplying Jewish communities throughout Italy with their ornate ceremonial objects. That goldsmiths in Venice had, for many centuries, embellished their pieces with exquisite filigree designs further points to a Venetian origin. As attested by a few remarkable spice containers (cf. Lot 325 in this sale, and Jewish Museum of New York (F3140) and several marriage rings (cf. Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 102/08), Venetian filigree work was both prized and commissioned by Italian Jews of the 17th Century.
Whether a product of Rome or Venice, this extraordinary case finds a true parallel in only one other extant ceremonial object, Undoubtedly by the same maker, a second gold megillah case (Christie's Amsterdam, 25 November 1997, lot 485; now in private hands) displays essentially the same design as the present piece, differing only in the embellishment of its finial, thumbpiece and handle, Lacking from that case, however, is its original parchment scroll, which has been replaced by an undecorated megillah from the 19th Century. That the elegant and restrained gilt borders of the present megillah are executed in precisely the same hue as the case itself strongly suggests that this 17th-century scroll was in fact designed to complement its extravagant container.
Provenance
The megillah case has been handed down for several generations within the illustrious D'Ancona family, known to have orginated in Pesaro and to have prospered throughout Italy as bankers. Most recently in the possession of Judith D'Ancona, who lent the case to the Israel Museum in memory of her husband Cesare (Chanan) D'Ancona. Cesare, the case's previous owner, acquired the object from his father Paolo D'Ancona (Pisa 1878 - 1964), a celebrated art historian and professor of medieval and modern art at the University of Milan. Paolo, in turn, received the case from his father, Alessandro D'Acona (Pisa 1835 - 1914), the well-known statesman, philologist, literary critic and professor of Italian literature at the University of Pisa. The earliest known owners of the case are Alessandro's parents, Giuseppe and Ester Della Ripa, both of Pesaro. Moving from Pesaro to Florence, where Giuseppe, a succesful banker, opened a bank, the couple later resettled in Pisa.
Literature
The Israel Museum News 14 (1978), p. 49 (illus.)
"Commemorazione di Alessandro D'Ancona del socio Giovanni Sforza", Memorie della Reale Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, serie II, tom. 65 (1915), p. 2
See also: Dora Liscia Bemporad, "Jewish Ceremonial Art in the Era of the Ghettos", pp. 112-135 in Vivian B. Mann (ed.), Gradens and Ghettos, The Art of Jewish Life in Italy, Exh. Cat., New York, 1989
See too: Christie's Amsterdam, Fine Dutch and Foreign Silver, Judaica, Russian Works of Art and 'Objects of Vertu', Tuesday, 25 november 1997, lot 485.
"Commemorazione di Alessandro D'Ancona del socio Giovanni Sforza", Memorie della Reale Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, serie II, tom. 65 (1915), p. 2
See also: Dora Liscia Bemporad, "Jewish Ceremonial Art in the Era of the Ghettos", pp. 112-135 in Vivian B. Mann (ed.), Gradens and Ghettos, The Art of Jewish Life in Italy, Exh. Cat., New York, 1989
See too: Christie's Amsterdam, Fine Dutch and Foreign Silver, Judaica, Russian Works of Art and 'Objects of Vertu', Tuesday, 25 november 1997, lot 485.
Exhibited
Displayed in the permanent Judaica exhibition of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, 1978 - 1999