Obj. ID: 37296 Torah shield, Vienna (Wien), 1705
sub-set tree:
F | Flower
C | Crown
C | Columns
C | Columns | Twisted columns
C | Columns | Columns with vine and clusters of grapes
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The following description was prepared by William Gross:
Breastplates – ornamental metal plates or shields hung in front of the Torah scroll – are found in all Ashkenazi communities, as well as Italy and Turkey, but designed differently in each community. In most cases the breastplate is made of silver or silver-plated metal. In Italy the breastplate is shaped like a half-coronet and known as the Chatzi-keter, "half-crown." In Turkey, the breastplate is called a Tas, and assumes a variety of shapes – circular, triangular, oval, or even the Star of David. In Western, Central, and Eastern Europe the breastplate is called either Tas or Tziz; its function there is not merely ornamental: it designates which Torah scroll is to be used for the Torah reading on any particular occasion, with interchangeable plaques.
The most notable early breastplates, from 17th-century Germany and Holland, were either square or rectangular, but over time they became rounded and decorative, and bells or small dedicatory plaques were suspended from its lower edge. During this period, the design of breastplates was influenced by that of the Torah Ark and the parokhet (curtain) concealing it, featuring various architectural motifs, the menorah (the seven-branched candelabrum), Moses and Aaron, lions, or Torah crowns.
This is one of the oldest pieces of Jewish religious art in silver known from Vienna. The maker and the date are the same as the magnificent and famous home Torah ark in the Cluny museum in Paris and it is most likely that this small Torah shield was made for use with the small Torah which would have been in that ark. With the expulsion of the Jews from Vienna, a group settled in Hotzenplotz in Czech Silesia. They apparently carried this Tas with them and it was renewed there in 1763, as shown by the inscribed piece added at the bottom of the Tas. This combined history from two cities on the oldest Jewish Viennese silver makes this object one of exceeding rarity and interest.
Inscription:
On added piece at the bottom: This Was Donated by Reb Yisrael, (Son of Reb Abraham), ............................and by His Wife Chaya, Daughter of Reb Avraham Segal from the Holy Community of Hotzenplotz in the Year (5)523 = 1763, According to the Minor Reckoning.