Torah Crown

Origin: Israeli, Jerusalem, 1920's
Medium: Silver (filigree, die-stamped); ivory and turquoise
Lent by the Jewish Museum; Gift of Henry Gamson, L1997.052.0005

A crown may be placed on top of the Torah as an alternative to a pair of finials. This crown is made in the form of a dome raised over columns. Around the base are ivory plaques with the names and symbols of the twelve tribes of Israel, and above each plaque is a medallion with one of the signs of the zodiac. (For example Leo, the lion, appears above the tribe of Ephraim, whose symbol is a bunch of grapes.)

The crown was made in the workshops of the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts, founded in 1906 and inspired by the arts and crafts movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Ornamental patterns (like the interlace design on the columns) are borrowed from earlier styles of art, but their use emphasizes an understanding of the properties of different materials and the appropriate techniques for working them by hand. For example, ivory lends itself to delicate carving but turquoise to simple rounded shapes; silver can easily be drawn into fine wire like that used to make spiral patterns on the dome.