Obj. ID: 48924  Papercut, Istanbul (Constantinople), 1892

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

Papercuts were not a common item in the Ottoman Empire.  The rarity of such items is great and their beauty quite special.  This example, backed by gold paper, is signed by a man who made several other papercuts which are today in the Israel museum.  His name is joseph Abulafia, from the city of Istanbul, and his story is told in the catalogue from the Israel museum, "Jews of the ottoman empire". The symbols include the menorah, inscribed with the 67the psalm, as on many Shiviti plaques, the crown and the tablets of the law. The use of his papercuts was primarily in the synagogue and the story that accompanied this piece told of its use in a synagogue in Tiberius.