AN ILLUSTRATED MARRIAGE CONTRACT, LIVORNO: 1799

Recording the marriage of Samuel son of Benjamin Corcos to Rachel daughter of Abraham Pardo Roques on Wednesday 5 Kislev 5559 [= April 10, 1799].

This elegant ketubbah with neo-classical imagery is characteristic of the illustrated marriage contracts produced in Livorno during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.  The distinctive rectangular shape, the decorated frieze above the text, the idyllic landscape set amidst graceful tendrils, all exemplify the Livornese school of ketubbah decoration. The official seal of the city of Livorno is stamped in the upper left corner.

The text of the ketubbah, is divided into two columns. On the right, the text of the Ketubbah proper is inscribed in square Hebrew letters.  At left, the text of the tenaim (special conditions) is penned in a cursive script.  The tenaim, which follow the Sephardic tradition, are common to Livornese kettubot and include the following stipulations:

1. The groom agrees not to marry a second wife during the bride’s lifetime, without first granting a writ of divorce to his first wife, and returning to her the total amount of her dowry plus the tosefet (additional amount).

2. If the bride should die before the groom, without leaving a child, the groom must return half the dowry to the bride’s heirs. If, however, she leaves a child, the groom is entitled to her dowry.

3. If the groom should pre-decease the bride, without a child, the bride receives the entire dowry plus the tosefet.

4. The groom agrees not to pressure his bride to renounce any part of her dowry.

5. If the groom becomes seriously ill, he agrees to prepare a writ of divorce in advance so that his wife will not be subject to yibbum (levirate marriage) upon his death.