|
|
JUDAICA
JEWISH RITUAL SILVERWARE
Judaica are silverware used in synagogues and Jewish household ceremonies.
They include TORAH SHIELD,
RIMMONIM - TORAH FINIAL, YAD -TORAH POINTER,
CHANUKAH LAMP - MENORAH ,
ETROG CONTAINER (SPICE BOX - ESROG BOX),
KIDDUSH CUP (KIDDUSH GOBLET - KIDDUSH BEAKER),
SPICE TOWER
Since ancient times silver was the preferred material for making the Kiddush cups,
Hanukkah lamps, Torah decorations and the dozens of other objects used in observing
the 'Mitzvot' (commandments).
Although silver has been important in the fashioning of secular and religious objects for
millennia, very little that was made specifically for Jewish ritual use before the 16th century
has survived.
Most of the objects we know of in museum and private collections of Judaica date
from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
'Judaica' is highly appreciateds by antique silver collectors and Sotheby's and
other primary auction houses dedicate specific auctions to this theme. |
In Europe, Jews were not normally allowed to be silversmiths or goldsmiths because they were excluded from
membership in the guilds. So, many of the ceremonial objects in Judaica collections, though used by Jewish
communities, were made by non-Jewish manufacturers or artisans on commission. As a result, there are often
mistakes in the Hebrew because the people who made the objects didn't know Hebrew and could only copy it
from inscriptions written out for them.
The Judaic ceremonial art had its first public display in the late 19th century.
The collecting and displaying of Jewish ceremonial art for aesthetic as well as educational purposes was
unknown until the nineteenth century, as up to that time they were used only in the life cycle and
holiday ceremonies in the home and in the synagogue.
Some Jewish ceremonial objects were displayed in 1875 in the Amsterdam Historische Tentoonstelling and
a private collection of eighty-two objects was displayed in 1878 at the Exposition Universale of Paris.
The first major independent public display on Judaica art was held in the 1887 Anglo-Jewish Historical
Exhibition, and its 2945 items catalog was the first significant catalog of Jewish art.
|
www.silvercollection.it |
This is a page of 'The What is? Silver Dictionary' of A Small Collection of
Antique Silver and Objects of vertu,
a 1000 pages richly illustrated website offering all you need to know about
antique silver, sterling silver, silverplate, sheffield plate, electroplate silver,
silverware, flatware, tea services and tea complements, marks and hallmarks, articles,
books, auction catalogs, famous silversmiths (Tiffany, Gorham, Jensen, Elkington),
history, oddities ...
SITE MAP - SILVER DICTIONARY |
| |
