Decorated parchment ketubah, for the wedding of Shabtai son of Reuven de Semo and Sarah daughter of Shmuel Yitzchak Padova. Corfu (Kerkyra, Greece), 12th Adar 5564 [24 February 1804].
Ink and paint on parchment.
Written on a rectangular parchment sheet, upper part cut in wave pattern. Ketubah text in center, within an arched frame, written in square script. Dowry in Sephardic semi-cursive script, with signatures of witnesses beneath the text, on the right side: Avraham son of Chaim Caliman and Shabtai Mordechai son of Binyamin HaLevi and Bonivento de Osmo. Opposite the signatures of witnesses appears a certification of inscription in the community ledger, in Italian, signed by Daniel V. Coen. Besides the usual anno mundi date, the ketubah is also dated to "1736 to the destruction of the Temple, may it be soon rebuilt in our days and the days of all of Israel, Amen".
Borders decorated in characteristic Italian ketubah style, with colorful illustrations including vegetal patterns and a dozen cartouches with illustrations of the twelve zodiacs and their names. The top of the ketubah features a medallion with an illustration of a rowboat (perhaps a family coat of arms or allusion to the island of Corfu).
41X53 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, some dark, slightly affecting text and illustrations. Old folding marks, slightly affecting text, professionally restored. Marginal tears and missing pieces, professionally restored.
The present ketubah is also documented on the NLI ketubah site, listing 990003035580205171.
