A Collection of Three Decorated Marriage Contracts from Vidin, Bulgaria: 1858, 1900, 1904

A. Vidin, Bulgaria: 1858
Ink and gouache on paper (32 x 21 ¾ in.; 815 x 555 mm).  Matted

B. Vidin, Bulgaria: 1900
Blue, gold and black Ink, printed on paper (30 ¼ x 25 in.; 770 x 635 mm). Matted

C. Vidin, Bulgaria: 1904
Blue, red and black Ink, printed on paper. (26 ½ x 20 ½ in.; 675 x 520 mm). Matted

The present lot of three decorated marriage contracts from Vidin represent a rare group of artistically ornamented ketubbot from Bulgaria.  Although the Jewish community in Vidin (located in northwestern Bulgaria) has existed since the 6th century, very few decorated marriage contracts are extant from this town; the few that remain all date to the 19th century and both hand-decorated and printed borders were used. As is customary with ketubbot from this region, in all three examples, the text is set within a colorful double archway and divided into three sections: the ketubbah, the tena’im, and below, a list of the dowry. The decoration found on ketubbot from Bulgaria is primarily floral with the addition of putti and lions enlivening the document. The lithograph ketubbot (b & c) were created by Jewish artists, Peretz Yosef Alkalai (b) and Jacob Hai Altaras (c), whose names appear below the borders. Finely decorated, 19th-century ketubbot from this region are exceedingly rare.