Torah in Torah Case with Finials, Silver: stamped and parcel-gilt; ink on parchment; graphite and ink on paper; paint on paper; glass; wood, c. 1850–85
Object Name:
Torah in Torah Case with Finials
Place Made:
Possibly Iraq
Date:
c. 1850–85
Medium:
Silver: stamped and parcel-gilt; ink on parchment; graphite and ink on paper; paint on paper; glass; wood
Dimensions:
44 3/4 × 11 1/4 in. (113.7 × 28.6 cm)
Credit Line:
Gift of the International Synagogue
Accession Number:
2016-18a-d

Not On View

Donated to a synagogue in Kolkata in memory of his father by Simon Raphael Hyeem Isaac before his death in 1885; donated to the International Synagogue at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York probably in the late 1960s.
This Torah case exemplifies the global connections among Jewish communities that have existed for millennia. The silverwork is typical of Torah cases from Iraq, and the case was probably made there. Yet the dedicatory inscription indicates that it was used in a synagogue in Kolkata, India, home to a large community of Baghdadi Jews since the eighteenth century.

Information may change as a result of ongoing research.

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