Torah Finials (Amsterdam)

Artist Unknown

1650–1700

Pair of silver tower-shaped finials with crowns constructed like multitiered towers of arched cutouts decorated with bells.
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These silver and filigree Torah finials used by Amsterdam’s Ashkenazic community are shaped like four-tiered towers. They have gilt bells in their arches and gilt urns on their corners and are topped with crowns. The form of these finials began to appear in German finials of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with slight variations.

Credits

Collection Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam, MB00004. On loan from the Ashkenazi Community Amsterdam.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

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Page of printed Hebrew text with word set in decorated border on top.
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Related Guide

Jewish Printing and Book Culture

1500–1750

Jewish printing unified far-flung communities by standardizing religious texts, created textual uniformity, and enabled vernacular translations, and facilitated the spread of Jewish texts and knowledge. 

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Early Modern Jewish Languages

1500–1750

As Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews migrated eastward, Yiddish and Ladino emerged as distinct languages. Both languages developed literary traditions, as print became more widespread.

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