Born in Galicia, Ghaim Gross immigrated to New York in 1921. A sculptor and a draftsman, he attended the Educational Alliance Art School on the Lower East Side and, from 1927 until 1989, taught sculpture there. Gross began incorporating Jewish iconography into his work in the late 1940s, and he worked on commissions for synagogues in the 1960s. The decoration of this marriage contract includes stylized animal and floral motifs in vibrant colors. Unlike traditional ketubbot, Gross's text and decoration overlap in various places. The artist inscribed the city, New York, a part of a date in the text; however, the ketubbah was never used.