Obj. ID: 11230
Sacred and Ritual Torah mantle, Morocco, 1923
The black velvet Torah mantle is composed of a cloak and a top.
The trapezoidal cloth cloak is attached to the top and opens in the front. The cloth bears floral and geometrical embroidery decoration arranged around a central cartouche. The latter is surrounded by a branch of leaves, and decorated with a floral pattern at its upper part. An embroidered dedicatory inscription appears at its centre. The cartouche is mounted over a tapering foliate pattern. Above the cartouche is an embroidered inscription in filled letters, and reads:
מפה יפה % והדורה לסת
Translation: A nice and glorious cloth for the Torah!
A band frames the borders of the cloth.
The oval top has two openings at its centre for the Torah Scroll rods. The two openings and the edge of the top are surrounded by a strip with fringes.
The dedicatory inscription is embroidered in filled letters, and reads:
שהקדישו האחים ## שלי'ת [=שיחיה לאורך ימים טוביםת אמן] הר' יצחק אצייאג ## י'ץ [=ישמרהו צורו] והר' יעקב אחיו י'ץ למנוחת ##אמם הכה'ץ [=הכבורה הצנועה] מרת אסתר מ''ך [=מנוחת כבוד] גומלת חסד עם החיים והמתים ## והיתה מנוחת כבוד בעש''ק [=בערב שבת קודש] ## תשעה ימים לחודש שבט ## ש! תרפ''ג לפ''ק תנצ''בה
Translation: Has been donated by the brothers The Rabbi Isaac Azeig, may he live many good days, amen (int.) ## may his Rock protect him (int.), and The Rabbbi Jacob, his brother, may his rock protect him (int.) For the repose of ## their mother the honoured and the modest (int.) madam Esther, her rest be honoured (int.) ## charitable with the living and those who passed away ## and was her repose honoured on the eve of the holy Sabbath The ninth day of the month of Shevat ## the year (5)682=1923, may her soul be bound up in the bond of life (int.)!
sub-set tree: 
This design of the Torah mantle was typical for the northern coastal region of Morocco (Tétouan and Tangier).
In this region, "what is noteworthy is the preservation of traditional Spanish Jewish costume, especially its typical gold embroidery. This was manifested most fully in the al-kiswa al-kbira... a magnificent gown worn on important occasions by the women of these communities (see, for example, postcards ID 45402 and 45390). The patterns and style of the ornamentation resemble those of Spanish embroidery at the time of the expulsion from Spain and were preserved because Jewish artisans passed them on from father to son. Since these artisans were the same as those who embroidered mantles, there is a close relationship between the ‘grand dress’ and mantles. The cloak of these mantles follows the widening cut of the ‘grand dress’, forming a long trapezoid shape. [...] Unique to the mantle is the central motif embroidered on the back, which is visible to the worshippers only when the Torah scroll is removed from the ark. The earliest major motif in this group is a stylized plant." The plant was probably alluding to the tree of life. "During the first half of the twentieth century the tree of life motif disappeared, to be replaced by Ashkenazi patterns and dedicatory inscriptions." [Yaniv, 2019, pp. 157-9]
This mantle presents a combination of patterns and styles of Spanish embroidery with modern innovations (embroidered crowns, medallions with inscriptions, etc.) typical since the early 20th century. The design includes the central motif designed as an inscribed medallion shaped by floral motifs; the medallion was topped by a flower stylized as a crown or later a crown. A stylized plant, probably alluding to the tree of life, is placed under the medallion.
Amar, Ariella. “Batei kneset, tashmishei kdusha u-mitzvah.” In Tunisia, ed. Haim Saadoun (Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute for the Study of Jewish Communities in the East, 2003): 273–88.
Yaniv, Bracha, Ceremonial Synagogue Textiles: From Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Italian Communities (Liverpool: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2019)