A Decorated Ketubbah from Tehran, 1873

Estimate

7,000 - 10,000 USD

bidding is closed

Description

ink and gouache

Ink, gouache, and shell gold on paper (42 x 29 1/2 in.; 1067 x 749 mm). Creases; a few small stains in the lower border. Glazed and framed; not examined outside of the frame.

Catalogue Note

Celebrating the marriage of Eliezer Hayyim and Deborah bat Moses on Thursday, 8 Tammuz 5633 (July 3, 1873).

This elaborately decorated ketubbah is ornamented with a richly colored floral design that amply fills the document. The non-representational imagery is characteristic of ketubbot created in lands under Islamic rule where Jewish artists adopted the dominant artistic aesthetic and refrained from incorporating figural imagery into their ketubbot and megillot. Tehran was one of the most important centers of ketubbah decoration in the Near East and the composition of these marriage contracts consists of an ornamental panel at top and a series of frames below, each inscribed with a text.