OFFICIAL SEAL OF NAPOLEON’S SANHEDRIN

<<A significant and rare artifact from a unique socio-political experiment.>> This seal was used to endorse official documents issued by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high court convened in Europe by Napoleon I to give legal sanction to the principles expressed by the Assembly of Notables in answer to the twelve questions submitted to it by the government. See L. Marcou, Napoleon Face aux Juifs (Paris, 2006) pp. 94-6; B. Blumenkranz & A. Soboul, Le Grand Sanhedrin de Napoleon (Toulouse, 1979) pp. 132-48; Diaspora Museum Catalogue, The Jews of France During the Revolution and the Napoleonic Era (1981). One other Sanhedrin seal has sold at auction, see Sotheby’s Tel Aviv, 12th October 1995, Lot 209.