A Torah Ark Curtain, Bohemia, 18th century, Rededicated in 1889

A Hebrew inscription on the lower portion of this Torah Ark curtain, also known as a parokhet, indicates that this textile was rededicated by the treasurer of the charitable funds in the year 5649 (1889). Jews employed sumptuous and expensive fabrics to decorate their synagogues. Often, when these luxurious fabrics became worn, they took the undamaged portions and used them to create new synagogue textiles. The eighteenth-century central panel of the present Torah Ark curtain was mounted onto a newer textile for added strength in the late nineteenth century. There are many such examples of reuses of important and beautiful early textiles. See, for example, a Torah Ark curtain from Prague, 1701, with very similar embroidery that was restored in 1858 (Jewish Museum of Prague inv. no. 17.234).

A set of six silver bells adorn the upper portion of the present curtain. Hanging of a set of bells on Torah Ark curtains was a custom unique to the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia. While the exact purpose of these bells is not clear, they may have been added to the parokhet so that when the curtain in front of the Ark was opened, the tinkling of the bells would signal to the congregation to rise in honor of the Torah.

Provenance

Sold Sotheby’s NY sale 5957, December 18, 1989, lot 114.

Physical Description

Center panel of maroon velvet ground with gold and silver metallic thread embroidery (18th century), bordered by a woven gold ribbon with six silver bells hung across the top and centered on an outer panel of dark purple velvet embellished with stars embroidered with metallic thread and surmounted by an image of a crown symbolizing the “crown of the Torah” (90 x 52 in.; 2286 x 1320 mm); early brown linen backing; velcro strip sewn across the top rear and six large metal rings at top for hanging (four rings date from the 19th century and two are later replacements). Some wear to velvet of both the center and outer panel; splits to fabric repaired; early linen backing with scattered holes.

Literature

Ludmila Kybalová, Eva Kosáková, and Alexandr Putík, Textiles from Bohemian and Moravian Synagogues from the Collection of the Jewish Museum in Prague (Prague: Jewish Museum, 2003), 140-141 (no. 27).