An important Italian silver torah crown and pair of torah finials, Venice

the crown deeply embossed, chased and pierced with fruit, flowers and scrolled foliage enclosing applied emblems in recesses, including Priest's hat, Ark, Tablets of the Law, censer; the finials with staves chased with shells below spiralling foliage, hexagonal bodies applied with similer emblems between vases of flowers and fronted by part galleries, hung with pear-shaped bells, with later Hebrew inscription Nefesh Shalom Association in the year...1870/71.

The crown: New York, Yeshiva University Museum, See and Sanctify, 1979, cat. 78, p. 39
New York, The Jewish Museum, Gardens and Ghettos: The Art of Jewish Life in Italy, 1989, cat. no. 208
New York, Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion, The Collector's Room: Selections from the Michael and Judy Steinhardt Collection, 1993, no. 11a, cover illus.

Condition good. Finials: ragged edges to upper gallery on both. 2 bells ragged at openings.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

While 18th century Italian Torah finials were intended to be used with a Torah crown – the bells on their long chains striking the inside of the crown – very few sets have survived together.

One of the few documented sets is by the same maker as the Steinhardt pieces, maker’s mark CL.[i]  The mark on that set is paired with a different and probably later assay master, and the crown is dated 1750-51 on the inscription; the more rococo sensibility also suggests a later date than the offered lot.  That set is preserved in the Jewish Community of Florence, and shows the importance of Venetian silversmiths in supplying congregations throughout Italy in the 18th century, including Rome and Livorno as well as Florence.

Another pair of finials by this maker are part of the trove of Judaica recently rediscovered under a staircase in the Ghetto of Venice and restored through Venetian Heritage, exhibited Sotheby's New York, December 2012-January 2013.   A crown in the same group, with the mark of Zuanne Cottini (active 1682-1736) is very similar to the Steinhardt crown, but with bouquets of flowers in the niches rather than Temple emblems.

On the Steinhardt finials, the Temple symbols are fronted by balustrades and separated, not by the more usual scrolling buttresses, but by applied vases of flowers.  This motif occurs on other early finials, such as the pair dated to the 17th century and formerly in the Jacopo Furman collection[ii], another pair dated circa 1700, shown in Tel Aviv in 1998[iii], and a pair from Mantua in the Jewish Museum, New York, described as 17th-18th century[iv].

[i] Gardens and Ghettos, no. 197, fits. 107-08 and cover
[ii] Treasures of Jewish Art from the Jacobo and Asea Furman Collection of Judaica, pp. 34-35, and later in a New York Private Collection
[iii] 50 Rimmonim:  A selection of Torah Finials from a European Family Collection, Tel Aviv University: The Judaica Museum, The Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center, no 11, pp. 30-31
[iv]  JM 20-64a,b, illustrated Masterworks of the Jewish Museum, 2004, pp. 112-113