Decorated parchment ketubah, for the wedding of Yochanan son of Aharon de Avila and Rosa daughter of Shabtai. Cairo, Egypt ("Cairo, next to Fustat, Egypt, on the Nile River"), 15 Kislev 5594 [November 27,1833].

Ink and paint on parchment.

Written on a parchment sheet, its upper edge shaped in a distinctive double-arched form crowned by a pointed finial. The text of the ketubah appears in the center in Sephardic cursive script, with some words emphasized in square script (the names of the bride and groom, the dowry and more), followed by the signatures of the witnesses: Yitzchak Shlomo Algazi on the right, and Yitzchak Suarez (?) on the left. In the center appears the signature of the groom in Latin script.

Decorated with folk illustrations, vegetal patterns in orange and green, and with a large central arch, containing verses of blessing also written in matching colors.

Decorated parchment ketubot from Cairo have been documented from as early as the Middle Ages. Decorated parchment ketubot from the Modern period, however, are scarce, and many of those known ketubot are damaged or incomplete. The present ketubah is thus an uncommon exemplar of an Egyptian decorated parchment ketubah, preserved in good condition.

40.5X50 cm. Overall good condition. Several tears and some pieces of parchment missing, professionally restored. Stains, mainly to bottom part, slightly affecting decorations. Folding marks and stains.

For further information and for comparison, see: Shalom Sabar (2022), Vol. II, Nos. 295, 297 (KET 160, KET 294). For a similar ketubah on paper, see the NLI Ketubot website, listing 990003003770205171.