Auction 102 Part 2 Rare and Important Items
Printed Aleph-Bet chart, with abridged Birkat HaMazon and other blessings, reading of Shema and other prayer texts. Pisa: Fua, 1799. Hebrew, with some Ladino.
Chart for teaching children to read. Upper part of leaf has the letters of the Hebrew alphabet with various vowels. On the right side of the leaf appear the Shema, Kedushah, Asher Yatzar and blessings on tzitzit and tefillin, and on the left side appear Birchot HaNehenin, Bore Nefashot and an abridged Birkat HaMazon. Additionally, there appear several psalms, including Viyehi Noam, the Hashkivenu blessing and the verses HaMalach HaGoel, Torah Tzivah Lanu Moshe and "HaNa'ar HaKaton Gadol Yihyeh".
Short headings before blessings printed in Ladino.
The center of the leaf is occupied by an illustration of a class of students. Several students are shown studying by a table, with a winged figure hovering over them and showering them with treats. Near them is a teacher brandishing a whip, ready to hit a disobedient student.
Charts such as this one were printed in Italy from the mid-17th century until the 19th century. Most of the charts were printed in a similar format, with the Aleph-Bet chart in the center and accompanying texts (with typographic variations). The illustration at the center of this leaf also appears in all other charts, with minor variations in the details (in earlier charts the illustration is a woodcut, while in later ones it is engraved).
Approx. 37X51 cm (uneven trimming). Fair condition. Stains, including dark stains, affecting text. Folding marks. Tears and open tears to folds and elsewhere, affecting text and center illustration, repaired with paper filling (many reparations to verso). Matted with tape.
Not recorded in the Bibliography of the Hebrew Book and does not appear in the NLI catalog. This appears to be the only extant copy in the world.
For details about other Aleph-Bet charts printed in Italy, and about the variations between the illustrations, see: Y. Yudlov, Italian Alphabet Charts, Kiryat Sefer, 62, 1988-1989, pp. 930-932 (Hebrew; the present chart does not appear in Yudlov's list).
Sefirat HaOmer plaque, for hanging on synagogue wall. Location and date not indicated, probably Eastern Europe (Ukraine? / Galicia? / Eastern Hungary?), [19th century].
Ink on paper.
Large rectangular paper plaque, handwritten and hand-decorated with repeating geometrical patterns and some vegetal decorations. The top of the plaque is captioned with a rhyme (relying on an Ashkenazic accent): "Do not forget to recite Sefirat HaOmer, and all the more so will the Guardian save you from evil decrees". The center of the plaque has the order of counting the Omer in round frames against a black background, surrounded with the verses of Ana Bechoach. To the right and left are the blessing recited before counting the Omer, Lamnatzeach Binginot (Tehillim 67), and the Ribono Shel Olam prayer recited after counting the Omer. On the bottom margins appears the Yehi Ratzon prayer "that the Temple be rebuilt…".
37.5X59 cm. Fair condition. Many stains. Creases, folding marks and tears, professionally restored, but affecting text.
A "Menorah" – large papercut serving as a "Shiviti" plaque and amulet. [North Africa, Morocco or Algeria, second half of the 19th century]. Inscribed (Hebrew): "Made by Mordekhai Hanoun...".
Papercut; colored aluminum foil.
An especially large "Menorah" (in Europe, termed "Shiviti") plaque, in the form of a delicate, meticulously crafted white papercut, over a background of sparkling sheets of colored aluminum foil in shades of pink, green, and light blue. A symmetrical composition, exhibiting numerous decorative elements – such as horseshoe arches and geometric, Arabesque-style guilloches – that bear the distinctive influence of Islamic art, as well as a host of delicate vegetal patterns in various forms.
The main, central decorative feature consists of three architectonic arches supported by large, decorated pillars. The rounded central arch frames the "LaMenatze’ach" menorah, depicted alongside the Temple vessels. Flanking the central arch on either side are two tapering horseshoe arches that enclose decorated elliptical boxes framing the Ten Commandments.
The architectonic arches are enclosed by three rectangular frames inscribed with various Hebrew texts. Cut out of the inner frame: the names of the ten kabbalistic "Sefirot"; the initials of the kabbalistic liturgical poem "Ana BeKo’ach"; initials of the verse "Barukh Shem K’vod Malkhuto Le’Olam Va’ed"; a number of variations on the Holy Name; initials representing the names of the archangels Uriel, Raphael, Gabriel, Michael, and Nuriel, in addition to their full names; initials of the biblical verse "a charming son is Joseph, a son charming to the eye..." (Bereshit, 49:22); and finally, the artist’s "signature": "Work of… Mordekhai Hanoun…". Cut out of the middle frame is the inscription "I have placed [Shiviti] the Lord before me constantly…" (Tehillim, 16:8), with the words of this verse divided among the four sides of the frame. And cut out of the third and largest of the frames, in large letters, are verses from Bereshit containing various blessings: "And may the Lord give you of the dew of the heavens and [of] the fatness of the earth… Those who curse you shall be cursed, and those who bless you shall be blessed" (Bereshit, 27:28-29); "And may the Almighty God bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and you shall become an assembly of peoples; and may He give you the blessing of Abraham" (Bereshit, 28:3-4).
Approx. 90X70 cm. Fair-good condition. Tears and missing strips, restored, partly with old paper repairs and partly with recent professional repairs. Stains. Abrasions to sheets of colored aluminum foil. Kept in more recent picture frame.
For a similar plaque by Mordekhai Hanoun, see: Kedem, Auction 88, September 6, 2022, Lot 280. For similar Jewish papercuts from North Africa, see: Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme (mahJ), Paris, item nos. 2002.01.0426 and 2002.01.0427; and the Center for Jewish Art (CJA), Jerusalem, item 48969 (from the Gross Family Collection).
!["Mishenichnas Adar Marbin BeSimchah" [when Adar arrives, we increase our joy], illustrated plaque for the month of Adar, prod](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale102/132.jpg "Illustrated Plaque for Rosh Chodesh Adar – Ukraine, Early 20th Century")
"Mishenichnas Adar Marbin BeSimchah" [when Adar arrives, we increase our joy], illustrated plaque for the month of Adar, produced by the artist Shabtai Dov son of Yaakov Asher Sack (with his signature in the bottom margins). [Apparently Lviv, today in Ukraine, early 20th century].
Ink and paint on paper.
Large, colorful plaque, hand-drawn and colored, composed symmetrically, including a bottle and two cups set upon a round table, below which is a pair of fish with the caption "Zodiac of Adar, Pisces". The top of the plaque has the caption Mishenichnas Adar Marbin BeSimchah ("when Adar arrives, we increase our joy") in large, stylized letters, surrounded by vegetal patterns including two hissing creatures, a pair of storks and two lamps.
The bottom margins and verso of the plaque bear the ink stamp of the Polish art historian and collector Maksymilian Goldstein of Lviv. In his book discussing Jewish folk art in Poland, which he co-authored with Dr. Karol Dresdner and was published in Lviv, 1935, Goldstein dedicates a large portion to the artist Shabtai Sack, displaying facsimiles of some of his artwork (including a similar Mishenichnas plaque) along with important biographical details. According to Goldstein, Shabtai Sack was born in Thessaloniki, ca. 1853, and lived in Lviv from a young age. Goldstein describes him as a skilled and versatile artist, who also worked with wood and stone carving, and decorated numerous synagogues in various Ukrainian cities.
39X56.5 cm. Overall good condition. Some stains, mainly visible from verso. Light signs of repair on verso.
Reference: Maksymiljan Goldstein and Karol Dresdner, Kultura i sztuka ludu żydowskiego na ziemiach polskich. Lviv: M. Goldstein, 1935, pp. 39, 60, 79-80, 166, 186-187.