![Gold amulet case ("Shad-dai"). [Italy, 19th century].
Gold, cast, repoussé and engraved (unmarked).](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale106/16_1.jpg "Gold Amulet Case – Italy, 19th Century – Luzzatto Family, San Daniele")
![Gold amulet case ("Shad-dai"). [Italy, 19th century].
Gold, cast, repoussé and engraved (unmarked).](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale106/16_2.jpg "Gold Amulet Case – Italy, 19th Century – Luzzatto Family, San Daniele")
![Gold amulet case ("Shad-dai"). [Italy, 19th century].
Gold, cast, repoussé and engraved (unmarked).](https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale106/16_3-WEB.jpg "Gold Amulet Case – Italy, 19th Century – Luzzatto Family, San Daniele")
Auction 106 Incunabula and First Editions | Illuminated Manuscripts | Jewish Ceremonial Art
Gold Amulet Case – Italy, 19th Century – Luzzatto Family, San Daniele del Friuli
Opening: $15,000
Sold for: $40,000
Including buyer's premium
Gold amulet case ("Shad-dai"). [Italy, 19th century].
Gold, cast, repoussé and engraved (unmarked).
Two-sided gold amulet case. The top is surmounted by a canopy-shaped ornament, above which is a suspension ring. Both sides of the case are identically decorated, with symmetrical patterns including rocailles, flowers and strings of beads. In addition to these ornaments, the front of the amulet features engraved representations of the Tablets of the Law and a seven-branched Menorah, while the reverse is decorated with a priestly headdress and incense burner. The center of the front of the amulet features a removable lid, designed as a plain cartouche.
Italian amulet cases of this type were generally made of silver. Gold amulet cases of this kind are particularly rare. Originally, such cases were used to hold amulets that were folded and stored within their inner cavity; at times the amulets were written for a specific individual or for a particular purpose, and were replaced when the case passed into the possession of another person. Over time, the cases themselves also came to be regarded as amulets.
The present amulet case was handed down through several generations of the Luzzatto family, an Italian-Ashkenazic Jewish family originating from the town of San Daniele del Friuli, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of northeastern Italy, between Venice and Trieste. Notable members of the family include R. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (Ramchal), Shmuel David Luzzatto (Shadal), Rachel Luzzatto Morpurgo, and many others – among the most important thinkers, writers and figures of Italian Jewry from the 16th century onward.
For a similar gold amulet case, see: Sotheby's, New York, December 17, 2008, Lot 89.
Height: 10 cm. Width: 8 cm. Thickness: 1.5 cm. Weight: 86.9 g. Good condition. Minor bends. Several tiny old solder repairs. Small crack to spherical ornament at base of suspension ring.
Provenance: Luzzatto Family, San Daniele del Friuli, Italy.