TALL DUTCH WOODEN TORAH ARK.

c. 1740

Louis XV encoignure. A corner cabinet-form Ark of carved, paneled rosewood with original hardware and key. Upper chamber topped with molded cornice, centered by a bracket carved with C-scrolls and a flower-spray, surmounted by a crown with copper-cut Hebrew letters reading: “Kether Torah.” Upper chamber with green velvet-lined interior and chain to hold Torah scrolls. Lower chamber with hinged door and three fitted, removable triangular shelves. Shaped apron featuring large shell and C-scrolls. The whole supported on hairy-paw feet. 95 x 38 x 19.75 inches.

Provenance: The De Pinto Family, The Hague. By descent. Christie’s Amsterdam, Furniture & Works of Art, December 19th, 1996, lot 392. In 1646 the Portuguese-Jewish merchant-banking De Pinto family settled in Rotterdam. There they reverted to the Jewish faith of their ancestors and soon assisted in founding the celebrated Yeshiva de los Pintos with Haham Joshuahu Pardo appointed as rector. In 1668 upon the death of the family patriarch, Abraham de Pinto, the family, along with the yeshiva, moved to Amsterdam. Subsequently, a branch of the de Pintos settled in The Hague in order to be near the stadtholder’s court and to share in court life. This Torah Ark (“Hekhal”) was located in the private home synagogue of the De Pinto family in The Hague. A related Torah Ark forms part of the interior of the winter synagogue of the Portuguese-Jewish Community of Amsterdam, situated in the former auditorium of the Ets Haim. See J. Belinfante, The Esnoga: A Monument to Portuguese-Jewish Culture (1991) p. 65. Another related Torah Ark resided in the small Portuguese synagogue of Maarssen (province of Utrecht, along the river Vecht). See J.F. van Agt, Synagogen in Amsterdam (1974) p. 48, fig. 41.