A Bezalel Wool Rug, Jerusalem 1920's

centered with a depiction of the Bezalel building and inscribed with a passage in Exodus 31:3 referring to Bezalel ben Uri, the biblical architect for whom the school was named  "and I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship", two side panels enclosing stylized menorahs, the borders with stylized stars of David containing the word "Zion" 

Anton Felton, Jewish Carpets, Suffolk, 1997, no. 38, p. 106 (illustrated)

The first building in which Bezalel was housed was on Ethiopia Street in Jerusalem.  The structure was small and considered inconvenient  and as soon as it opened, Schatz set out to purchase a plot on which to build a permanent structure. After exhaustive attempts to find suitable land, Schatz received two Turkish buildings in 1908, purchased by the Jewish National Fund, splendidly depicted in the present lot.