Obj. ID: 3475
Sacred and Ritual Torah case
The prismatic Torah case consists of a body and a coronet.
The case opens in the centre on the front facet, forming two halves joined in the back by a steady facet.
The body is comprised of twelve facets and is encircled, at its upper and lower edges, by two wooden stepped strips, creating two friezes painted in blue.
Each facet is decorated with a vertical gesso relief composed of a central medallion enclosing an open flower, bordered by two rectangular plates set on top and bottom. The plate is decorated with twin leafy branches forming a lyre shape, and an upright elliptic medallion enfolding a flower, between them. The plates and medallions create three circumferential bands. Serrated strips frame the entire body and separate between the facets. The patterns are painted in gold set against a green background.
The tall coronet is comprised of twelve units, which continue the body's facets (fig. 1). Each unit is formed of an oval flower set between two leaves and topped by a palmette. All units are supported by a triangular leafy base flanked by scrolls. A column topped by a flower borders each unit on either side.
The inner face of the Torah case is plain wood. Each half has a double shelf blocked by a board at its bottom and a single one on top.
Two holes for inserting the Torah staves appear at the bottom and top.
For a similar case see: Klagsbald, Catalogue Raisonné, 1981, p.93, item 122.
sub-set tree: 
Structure: sawed, carved
Decoration: gesso, painted, carved
Bonding: nailed, hinged, glued
Width: 305 mm (body)
Klagsbald, Victor. Catalogue Raisonné de la collection juive du muse de Cluny (Paris: Ministère de la Culture, 1981)
Yaniv, Bracha, Ma’aseh hoshev: Ha-tik le-sefer Torah ve-toldotav (Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute for the Study of Jewish Communities in the East, 1997)
Yaniv, Bracha. The Torah Case: Its History and Design (Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University Press and the Ben Zvi Institute, 1997). In Hebrew