In the world of antique Judaica, there is no higher status than that given to items that have a provable provenance dating to before World War II. The reasons for this are varied, but the most significant are that the object in question was not stolen and is not a forgery. Institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art have strict acquisition conditions when a rare piece of Judaica appears in the marketplace for sale – one of which is that the item must have an ironclad, provable provenance.
On May 8th, an incredible collection of antique Judaica appeared for sale at the auction house Kedem, located in Jerusalem. This collection, originally gathered by Solomon Schloss (1815-1911), had one of the most remarkable provenances a collector or institution could hope for – namely, that all the items had a highly detailed, provable pre-war provenance.
Many of the items were exhibited for the public in England during the 1910s and 20s, and some of the more regal silver items were photographed and described at the Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition held in London in 1887. Many of the pieces from this collection have been on long-term loan – for the past 40 years – and on display at the Jewish Museum of Switzerland, located in Basel. Collectors, dealers, and institution representatives from around the world were on the telephone and in person in Jerusalem in an attempt to acquire what they desired.
Here are some of the highlights of the sale.
Without question, the star of the sale was an enormous (over two feet in length), wooden Esther scroll case that was lavishly and masterfully carved by a Jewish artisan in Ukraine in 1892. The case is adorned with richly detailed carvings that include Hebrew verses from the Book of Esther with accompanying illustrations, as well as lions, tendrils, and a wide range of vegetal patterns, flowers, latticework, rings, and other decorative patterns that, together, densely cover the entire surface area.
The case’s cylindrical body is divided into three wide bands that contain four vignettes with verses from the Book of Esther, along with carved illustrations depicting the scenes associated with them. The upper band consists of two carved illustrations corresponding to the verses “And they hanged Haman…” (Esther 7:10) and “The king extended to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand…” (ibid. 5:2). In the depiction of his hanging, Haman is portrayed with his wrists and ankles tied, suspended by his neck from a gallows, while the rope passes over a wheel and is grasped at the other end by an executioner wearing a top hat, as a bird perched on the gallows pecks at the top of Haman’s head.
The middle band includes a richly detailed carved illustration corresponding to the verses “So the king and Haman came to drink with Queen Esther. And the king said to Esther… What is your petition, Queen Esther, and it shall be given to you. And what is your request, even up to half the kingdom, and it shall be granted” (Esther 7:1-2). The bottom band is dedicated to the verse “And Haman took the raiment and the horse, and he dressed Mordechai and paraded him in the city square and announced before him, ‘So shall be done to the man whom the king wishes to honor!’” (ibid. 6:11). The Hebrew inscription bearing this verse forms the border of a carved illustration showing Mordechai mounted on the back of a horse being led by Haman. All of this is encircled by dense patterns of clusters of grapes and grape leaves.
The Hebrew year, 5652, appears above the slot through which the scroll is withdrawn. The rod forming the pull bar is similarly adorned with expertly carved wood decorations, including a pair of large lions grasping brass rings in their teeth; the brass rings are connected by a chain of wooden rings which appear to have been carved from a single block of wood.
For this Esther scroll case, the auction house assigned an estimate of $150,000-$200,000. It sold for $350,000.
Another piece that outshone the estimate assigned to it was a late-18th-century pair of silver Torah finials from Turin, Italy. Decorated with rocailles and other vegetal patterns, these finials featured three adornments associated with the Temple in Jerusalem: the showbread laid out upon its table, the jar of manna, and the seven-branched menorah which, most interestingly (to me), is depicted in the manner that the Rambam (Maimonides), made famous in his 1168 manuscript Pirush HaMishnayot – his diagram in that work displays the Temple menorah with straight branches at diagonal angles, which is in stark contrast to most other depictions of the menorah, which show rounded or curved branches.
The estimate for these finials was $60,000-$80,000. They sold for $200,000.
A very rare item also offered at this auction was a mid-18th-century silver holder for the long, braided candle used for havdalah. At the base of the candlestick holder, “supporting” the entire piece, is a miniature human figure standing almost three inches tall. The statuette is of a bearded gentleman, donning a cape, with a long, partly buttoned overcoat underneath. The costume also includes a fancy ruff collar around the neck, and a round hat on the head.
In its hands, the figure holds the two familiar objects used during havdalah: a tall, tower-shaped spicebox in his right hand and a wine cup in his left. The casting and hand-finishing of this little man is of a high standard, as the entire piece was made by a Christian silversmith based in Frankfurt, Germany named Rudiger Herfurth, who produced a wide array of high quality silver Judaica for the Jews of Germany. (Jews were barred from the guilds in Germany in the 18th century, hence the only silver Jewish ceremonial objects produced in Germany during this period were by non-Jews.)
This candleholder is one of only a handful of similar 18th-century havdalah vessels that exist today, likewise resting atop statuettes. Some nine similar havdalah vessels of various levels of quality are known to exist, and most of these belong to museums. Estimated at $150,000-$250,000, this one sold for $162,500.
Last is an item that surprisingly underperformed in regards to the estimate assigned to it. Seen here is a large Chanukah menorah measuring 10” x 16”, from the city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, dating to 1760. The back plate is made to look like a large, baroque-style cartouche, with a scallop-shaped ornament on top and an extensive convex reflecting surface in the middle. This is a rare, early model of this type of Chanukah menorah, and only a handful of similar examples are known to exist in museum collections; most of them had once belonged to Dutch Jewish families of Spanish-Portuguese origin. Estimated at $150,000-$250,000, the menorah sold for $125,000.
For those in the New York area, on June 27th, Sotheby’s will be holding a sale of various types of Judaica, from 18th-century antiques to pieces made by modern artisans. If you cannot make it in person to the pre-sale Sotheby’s exhibition, their catalog will appear online approximately ten days before the day of the sale.
