Pair of Torah finials. Paris, France, [ca. 1880]. Dedicatory inscription from Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria, dated 1889.
Silver, cast, repoussé, pierced and engraved (with maker's mark of Henri Chevron, active in Paris from 1879, and minute standard marks from Paris, 19th century).
A pair of French Torah finials, with a design reminiscent of the work of Parisian silversmith Maurice Mayer. Stylized as hexagonal towers of three stories, topped by a roofed dome, surmounted by a large ornament in vegetal pattern. Each of the stories contains six large windows, shaped as horseshoes, each with a flower-like ornament (these may have served as hangers for bells). Mounted on wide cylindrical legs, decorated in vegetal patterns. Dedicatory inscription engraved on legs: "Donation in the merit and eternal memory of… the honorable Yaakov Sananes, head of the Bel Abbès community, [1889]" (one of the finials omits a letter from the name "Sananes" and does not correctly mark one letter of the chronogram).
Sidi Bel Abbès in northern Algeria served as a government stronghold under French occupation. From the mid-19th century, it was home to a Jewish community who settled there from other cities in Algeria and Morocco. The dedicatory inscription engraved on the finials indicates that Yaakov Sananes served as the head of the Sephardic community in this city. In a piyyut written in his honor by R. Yaakov HaLevi in 1877, he is named "Yaakov Sananes, consistory of Bel Abbès" (see NLI listing 990037784610205171).
For similar pairs of finials produced by Maurice Mayer, see: Center for Jewish Art (CJA), no. 37184 (Gross Family Collection); Sotheby's, New York, 29 April 2013, Lot 248 (Steinhardt Collection).
Height: 43 cm. Width: 10 cm. Weight: 1690 g. Fair-good condition. Bells or medallions lacking from windows. Detached legs and loose thread fittings in both finials: one lacking three internal and six external screws, the other lacking two screws and slots, six external screws, two nuts at joint between top and central story and four decorative flowers on windows. Top ornaments flattened.
