Obj. ID: 9842
Sacred and Ritual Objects Torah finials, Kurdistan, 19??
The Torah finial consists of a shaft, a body and an apex.
The shaft tapers towards the body and is encircled by a ring at the bottom, and by a double ring at the top.
The shafts bear an identical dedicatory inscriptions in square filled letters, that read from bottom to top:
“Rahma daughter of Lea V(?)avya, daughter of Zaku, and her brother Nahum son of Lea Shabtai son of Lea Hasni, daughter of Rahma Elija, son of Lea”. (Although the content of this dedicatory seams unreasonable, this is what is written.)
The first letter of the name “Vavia”, is written in different letters on each shaft.
The shaft is surmounted by a compressed globe capital, decorated with a pattern of flowers and leaves.
The pear shaped body is divided into upper and lower parts by a protruding ring.
The body’s bowl shaped base is decorated with a whorl of petals topped by a floral band. It is surmounted by seven straps shaped as elongated leaves, each decorated by a stalk, bearing flowers and leaves.
The protruding ring, decorated with a geometrical pattern, tops the lower part. Eight loops carrying chains with split drop-shaped bells, are attached to the ring.
The ring is surmounted by a conical upper part decorated with a band of flowers and leaves, topped by a whorl of petals.
A conical apex tops the finial.
sub-set tree:
Structure: Hammered
Decoration: Repousse, Engraved, Cast
Bonding: Soldered, Screwing
Inscription: Engraved
Height: 290mm
Diameter: 95mm
shaft:
Height: 130mm
Diameter: 20mm