Pair of Torah finials. Jerusalem, [Persian-Jewish or Bukharan-Jewish community?], dedicatory inscription dated 5662 [1902].
Silver, cast, pierced, turned, and engraved.
Crown-shaped head. Body in form of belltower, with six bells suspended in shields-shaped "windows". Encircling each of these windows are inscriptions, engraved in elegant Hebrew letters, that together represent three biblical verses (Psalms 19:8-10). Hebrew dedicatory inscription engraved onto the shafts: "[…] gift of Yitzhak, on the second day of Hanukkah, […] Year 5662 [1902], toward the elevation of the soul of Mazal-Tov, daughter of Esther […]".
Torah finials of this particular type were seen frequently in Sephardic and Oriental synagogues in Palestine. They can be stylistically linked to earlier European Torah finials, specifically of Italian and Spanish origins.
Height: 25 cm.
Reference: 50 Rimmonim: a Selection of Torah Finials from a European Family Collection, p. 62.