Grand silver Torah crown. Moscow, 1897.
Description: Large, ornate silver Torah crown, engraved with hallmark combining country, silver quality, year, and assayer’s mark, as well as the artisan’s insignia Y Rabinowitz. The crown displays superior craftsmanship and repoussé and it is impressively engraved and soldered.
The base of the crown is a decorated ring with a beautiful relief of a leopard, eagle, deer, and lion walking in a vineyard among branches, leaves, and clusters of grapes, alluding to the dictum in Pirkei Avos: “Be bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer, and strong as a lion.”
The upper part of the base ends in spikes, with each spike alternately welded with a flower or button. Each of the six arms of the crown is screwed to the flowers welded on the base and boasts an attractive floral relief pattern. The arms connect at the top to a smooth ring with protruding sepals, and a branch with leaves extending from each arm culminates in two bells. The upper ring serves as the base for a smaller upper crown, with the inscription: “
This is a donation by Rabbi Nachum son of Efraim the Cohen and his wife Mrs. Bluma, daughter of Rabbi Menachem, year 5557 (1897).”
The upper six-armed crown is also decorated in fine relief, topped by a ball knob and a cast finial in the form of a winged eagle standing on a branch. A bell hangs from the ball into the crownlet. The underside is crafted with two adjustable rings for mounting the crown on Sifrei Torah of a variety of sizes.
Condition: Good with minor restoration. Several leaves and bells are missing.
Size: Height: 42 cm.
Provenance:
1. Sotheby’s Tel Aviv. October 2001, Item 78.
2. Yechezkel Toporowitz Collection.
Beautifying the Mitzvos
There is no item more treasured or sacred to the Jewish people than the Sefer Torah. Throughout the ages, Jewish communities have sought to beautify and decorate Sifrei Torah with silver crowns, breastplates and finials, following the dictum of the Sages who instructed to “Make a beautiful Sefer Torah” (Shabbos 133b).
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