Obj. ID: 40919
Sacred and Ritual Objects Torah Crown, Algeria, circa 1900
The following description was prepared by William Gross:
The earliest Torah ornaments are the Torah crown and the finials mounted on the Torah case or on the staves of the Torah scroll. We first hear of a Torah crown in the 11th century, in a responsum of Hai Gaon concerning the use of a crown for a Torah scroll on Simḥat Torah. The use of the Torah crown is linked in this responsum to the custom of crowning the so-called "*Bridegrooms of the Law," i.e., the persons called up on Simḥat Torah to complete the annual cycle of the Torah reading and to initiate the new cycle. At the time, the Torah crown was an ad hoc object made from various decorative items, such as plants and jewelry. About a hundred years later, fixed crowns, made of silver and used regularly to decorate Torah scrolls in the synagogue, are mentioned in a document from the Cairo *Genizah. Their earliest depiction is in the 14th-century Spanish Sarajevo Haggadah.
Torah crowns are used in almost all communities (the exceptions are Morocco and Yemen), their design being influenced in each locality by local tradition. The onion-shaped or conical crown of the Iraqi-Persian Torah case follows the tradition of the crowns of the Sassanid kings, the last Persian dynasty prior to the Muslim conquest. In Cochin, India, and in Aden, the independent port of Yemen, a tapering dome-like crown developed through which protrude finials mounted on the staves on which the Torah scroll is wound; the crown is not fixed to the case. By the 20th century, the Torah crown in Cochin showed distinct European features. In Eastern Iran, where the Torah had a small crown, the outer sides of the crown lost their spherical shape and became flat dedicatory plaques. Today this crown looks like a pair of flat finials, and only their designation as "crowns" hints at their origin in the Torah crown. The circlet or coronet on the Mediterranean case, which became an integral part of the case, was based on a local medieval crown tradition typified by floral patterns. The European crown is shaped like a floral coronet with arms closing over it. In Eastern Europe a two- or three-tiered crown developed, inspired by the crown motif on the Torah Ark in this region. In Italy, on the other hand, the Torah crown was a coronet, known in Hebrew as the atarah.
The many faceted shape of the Algerian Torah Tik was often topped by a faceted, hinged crown, made to sit on top of the Tik. This example is both substantial and elegant and the inscriptions are on the full length of the crown. This crown is made of panels of two crowns of identical design. The inscriptions on the two halves of the front panel indicate that they are from two identical crowns, each made by two sons of Sa'id, both of whom were silversmiths, the one Moshe and the other Eliyahu. Incriptions on the panels match the differening engraved script on each of the front halves that identify the two makers. In 2015 another almost identical crown was sold at Moreshet Auctions. This is unquestionably a type which is one of the most impressive Torah ornaments originating in Algeria. The weight of almost 2 1/2 Kilo also sets this crown apart from the norm.
Inscriptions
Right front:
The servant of the Lord Moshe ben Sa'id, May the Lord sustain him and protect him Left Front: This is the Crown that was made by the skilled, important and valued artist Eliyahu ben Sa'id
Panels, from righ to left:
Panel 1: Unintelligible
Panel 2: The remembered and loyal Yehoshua Maman, May his rock and redeemer protect him, a good sign
Panel 3: Shalom Chason
Panel 4: Servant of the Lord Yosef Chason
Panel 7: Yitzhak ben Val?