Obj. ID: 39231
Sacred and Ritual Objects Shabbat and Holiday Challah Cover, Jerusalem, circa 1925
The following description was prepared by William Gross:
Such printed textiles were made as souvenirs, as gifts from Jerusalem institutions for their supporters abroad and directly as ritual items. Such cloths are to be found in virtually every country in which Jews reside, having been sent their by institutions or as souvenirs. The iconographic scheme usually centered around images of the Holy Sites with other Jewish symbols. The textiles were printed on a variety of fabrics ranging from simple cotton to silk. They were usually textiles either for the Pesach Seder table or for use on Shabbat and Holidays as challah covers with the appropriate prayers of the Kiddush of that event. The earliest examples, yet from the 19th century, were produced by the famous printers of that period in Jerusalem.
This cloth was intended for covering the Challah on Shabbat and Holidays. This example was printed by the famous Jerusalem printer, Monsohn, who was the first color printer in Jerusalem, originally working in the stone lithograph technique that he learned in Germany. While faded, the production by the Monsohn printing shop makes it a rarity.
Inscription: Lichvod Shabbat ve-Yom Tov