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HISTORIC SCROLL IN AN ORIGINAL BEZALEL SILVER CASE PRESENTED TO THE HAKOAH VIENNA FOOTBALL CLUB, JERUSALEM: [1924]
Estimate
60,000 - 80,000 USD
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Description
- Length: 11 1/2 inches
Scroll (4 1/8 x 25 3/8 in.; 106 x 647 mm) made of parchment; six text panels elaborately illustrated in gouache with gilt highlights, followed by a plain signature panel; text written in Ashkenazic Beit yosef script in black ink; ruled in blind. Enlarged, rubricated incipits; rubricated, foliate decorations marking the end of paragraphs; signed “Z. Raban, Bezalel” in Hebrew. Some staining and darkening in outer edges, especially at front; one small nick in upper edge above fourth text panel. Housed in a scroll-form silver case (height: 11 3/4 in.; 300 mm) with etched and filigree decoration, set with cachabon stones and featuring a dedicatory inscription: “To the Hakoah Vienna Club, in commemoration of the visit of the Hakoah football team to Jerusalem”; chasing only slightly damaged; pull signed “Bezalel, Jerusalem” in Hebrew.
Catalogue Note
The Jewish sports club Hakoah was founded in Vienna in 1909. Its name, meaning “the strength,” was chosen to encourage Jews to strive for athletic prowess. With time, the football team emerged as the most popular of all the Hakoah sports clubs and attracted thousands of Jewish fans to their matches. In 1924, the team traveled to Palestine, where it was presented with this historic scroll, which was illustrated, illuminated, and signed by Ze’ev Raban (1890-1970), the renowned artist and faculty member of the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem. The text likens the members of the team to the Hebrew warriors of old and extols them as the new Jewish heroes. A panel at the end of the scroll features the signatures of the heads of the most important Zionist and educational institutions in contemporary Palestine, including that of Bezalel founder and father of Israeli art Boris Schatz (1866-1932).