An Embroidered Torah Binder, Italy, 1604

Embellished with the following Hebrew inscription: “Donation of Simhah bat Asher Ibn Forno, widow of the esteemed Eliezer Rubino, of blessed memory, in the year 5364 [1604].”

Torah binders from Italy were created by wealthy Jewish women who donated them to their synagogue. They were decorated with delicate floral motifs and elaborate stitching; a few are embroidered with dedicatory inscriptions indicating they were produced in honor of their husbands or in memory of a deceased relative. So highly valued was the creation of these beautiful objects for the synagogue that in the sixteenth century the rabbis of Italy introduced a prayer to be recited every Sabbath morning, praising “all the daughters of Israel who fashion covers in honor of the Torah.”

Provenance

Sold Sotheby’s New York, June 26, 1985, lot 144.

Physical Description

Linen embroidery on linen with needle lace border (10 x 136 in.; 255 x 3455 mm). Three tears in upper border of one panel; light soiling at beginning and end; small scattered stains.

Literature

Dora Liscia Bemporad and Olga Melasecchi (eds.), Tutti i colori dell’Italia ebraica: tessuti preziosi dal Tempio di Gerusalemme al prêt-à-porter (Florence: Giunti, 2019), 171-172 (nos. 55, 56).