UNIQUE GILT WOODEN SUKAH EMBELLISHMENT. Poland, 1883.

Wooden panel, slightly concave, carved, painted and partially gilt, with one large and seven small apertures. From the top, beneath an eagle, a gilt wreath encloses a raised, gilt Hebrew inscription. Below, two vertical rows of small lunettes and one central small lunette, each within gilt frame; below, larger square opening framed by decorated pediment topped by lions, supported by columns with Hebrew date on bases; below, within gilt oval, Hebrew dedicatory inscription. The upper inscription is passage recited each evening in the Sukkah, inviting the Seven Exalted Guests; the lower inscription cites the prayer recited at the last meal in the Sukkah, as well as the name (maker or patron) “Isaac, Son of Reb Ezekiel Kahane Shapira”. 695x425mm

This elegant object was created as a frame; it would have contained parchment inserts with the names of the Seven “Ushpizin” Guests (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, and David) who symbolically visit each Sukkah. No comparable carved wooden frames are known. For other examples of carved wood from Poland, see J. Ungerleider-Mayerson, Jewish Folk Art from Biblical Days to Modern Times (1986) p. 248. The elaborate carvings with foliate elements are reminiscent of tombstones such as those in the Jewish cemetery of Tarnopol, see Beth Hatefutsoth Catalogue, Treasures of Jewish Galicia (1996) no. 208, pp. 58-9