Obj. ID: 23318
Sacred and Ritual Objects  Torah finials, Afghanistan, 1929

The globular Rimon is made of silver and consists of a shaft, a body, and a head.

The cylindrical shaft is encircled by rings at its ends. It is decorated with winding strips of foliate pattern. Foliate runners encircle the upper and lower borders. The shaft is surmounted by a convex flower-like disk. Chains hang from the disk rim and carry flattened and slit drop-shaped bells. The globular body is decorated with varied floral and foliate pattern. Two foliate runners encircle the centre of the body. One of the Rimonim bears inscribed cartouches. A leaf circlet decorates the top of the body. Some of the leaves bear a dedicatory inscription.

The hyperboloid head (one rimon's head is shorter) is mounted over a flower-like disk. The head is surmounted by a pointed domed apex decorated with diagonal bands.

Inscriptions in cartouches in outline letters read :

מאת##ק!ק של !

From/the holy congregation!

משהד/בשביל !

Meshed(?)/for!

בית/הכנסת/של !

The synagogue/of!

הרת/יגדיל ת!ו)תורה(/וי!אר)ויאדיר( !

Harat/May He make magnificent the Torah/and glorify!

The dedicatory inscription in linear letters on the leaf circlet reads from the body to the head. Each word appears on a different leaf. משה / בן / נתנאל / כהן / אמבאלו / 9291 !

Moses / the son of /Nethanel/Cohen / Ambalo /1929!