Important Judaica
Important Judaica
A DECORATED KETUBBAH FROM TEHRAN, 1873
Auction Closed
June 5, 04:47 PM GMT
Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A DECORATED KETUBBAH FROM TEHRAN, 1873
Ink, gouache, and shell gold on paper (42 1/4 x 29 3/8 in.; 1075 x 747 mm). Creased with minor losses along fold lines; a few small stains in the borders. Glazed and framed; not examined outside of the frame.
Celebrating the wedding of Eleazar Hayyim ben Mashiah and Deborah bat Moses on Thursday, 8 Tammuz 5633 (July 3, 1873).
This ketubbah is elaborately ornamented with a richly colored floral design that amply fills the document. The non-representational decorative program is characteristic of ketubbot created in lands under Islamic cultural influence, where Jewish artists adopted the dominant aesthetic and refrained from incorporating figural imagery into their ketubbot and megillot. Tehran was one of the most important centers of ketubbah decoration in the Middle East, and it is here that a distinctive style developed wherein a series of text frames is surmounted by an enlarged ornamental panel.