Torah Finial
- Date
- 1778
- Material
- Silver with gilding
- made in
- Amsterdam, Noord-Holland province, Netherlands, Europe
- Classification
- Metalwork
- Collection
- Decorative Arts and Design
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 122
- Dimensions
- height: 18 3/8 in. (46.7 cm)
(with base): 20 3/8 x 5 1/8 in. (51.8 x 13 cm) - Credit Line
- The Deane and Paul Shatz Endowment Fund for Judaica
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 108:2000.2
NOTES
Finials (rimmonim) were among the most elaborate objects commissioned for Torahs by wealthy Jewish patrons. Breastplates, pointers, and crowns also adorned the scrolls when they were not in use. The finials' bells would have signaled the Torah's approach as the procession made its way through the synagogue.
The bases feature silver stamps and a Hebrew inscription; the stamps confirm a date of 1778, and the inscription commemorates the gift of Yaakov Gedalja, born in the Hague in 1760, the son of Tanchum Pos.
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