Siddur for Women – Elegant Silver Binding, with Chain – The Netherlands, 1714-1718

Siddur for Women – Elegant Silver Binding, with Chain – The Netherlands, 1714-1718

Siddur for the entire year, in Yiddish, arranged according to Ashkenazic custom. Includes Psalms and prayers of supplication, with separate title pages. Amsterdam: Press of Solomon Ben Yosef Proops, 1714. In decorated silver binding with engraved dedicatory inscriptions and chain, used for suspension or for fixing the siddur to the synagogue furniture.
Silver, pierced, repoussé, engraved, and soldered (unmarked); Print on paper; wood and leather.
Dutch women’s siddur. Title page with engraving by Joannes Lamsvelt, depicting biblical heroines: Eve, Rebecca, Leah, Miriam, Deborah, and Hannah. The Talmudic teaching "In the merit of righteous women were our fathers redeemed from Egypt", appears at the bottom of the title page.
Apparently, this siddur was given by a bridegroom to his bride-to-be in accordance with the custom of "sivlonot", namely gifts sent by a newly-betrothed couple to one another following their betrothal. It is bound in its original wooden binding, and coated in full-grain leather encased within an elegant silver binding, engraved with the names of the bride and groom. The various decorations in the silver binding are created by piercing, such that the underlying dark leather appears in the background.
The back and front of the binding are identically adorned with vegetal patterns, and, in the center, a pair of lions with outstretched tongues, grasping a heart-shaped medallion surmounted by a large, crown-shaped ornament. The medallion on the front binding is engraved with the name of the bridegroom and the Hebrew year, "Hayyim son of / Uri Cohen / of blessed memory. 5477 [1717]", surmounted by a small, engraved, crown-shaped ornament. The medallion on the rear binding is engraved with the name of the bride and the Hebrew year, "Gittel daughter of / Rabbi Abraham / may he live for many long years 5477…". The unpierced spine bears matching patterns. A pair of silver ornaments, spanning the width of the book block, are perpendicularly soldered onto the top and bottom of the spine. The book block is locked with a pair of decorated silver buckles attached to the silver binding, and a suspension chain spans the top of the book block, connected to the front and rear silver binding by means of a pair of rings.
A handwritten notation attesting ownership to the bride, Gittel daughter of Abraham, appears in Yiddish on the front endpapers. It is dated 1718. A personal prayer, also in Yiddish, is handwritten onto the final pages of the siddur. In all likelihood, like the ownership notation in the front, it was written by the book’s owner, namely the bride herself.
For a similar item, see: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, item no. 025.001.007 (Center for Jewish Art, item no. 23636).

Silver Binding: 18.5 cm. Good condition.  Minor blemishes and warping to clasp hinges, and edges of spine. Minor warping to binding edges.

Siddur: [1], 279, 136 Leaves. Approx. 17.5 cm. Overall good condition. Six original vorsatz leaves, three in the beginning of the volume and three more at its end, with handwritten ownership inscriptions in Yiddish (see above). Leaves 113-136 in first sequence detached, torn, and missing (leaf 114 and most of leaf 113 missing). Stains, with some browning. Creases and minor wear. Tears, including open tears, at leaf margins, affecting text in some places. Gilt leaf edges, with gauffered patterns of flowers and birds. Original wooden binding, covered in leather. Paper label (English print form, filled in with handwritten script) bearing the name of Solomon Schloss, from the exhibition at Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 1906, pasted to inside front cover.

Exhibitions:
1. London, Exhibition of Jewish Art and Antiquities, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1906, item no. 1098 (paper label glued onto inside flap of binding).
2. Glasgow, Festival of Jewish Arts Exhibition, McLellan Galleries, 1951, item no. 251.
3. Basel, Jewish Museum of Switzerland, JMS 1009.
Provenance:
1. Collection of Solomon David Schloss (1815–1911).
2. Lewis Raphael Castle (1858-1932), son of the above.
3. Peter Castle (1922-2011), grandson of the above.
4. Heirs of the above.
This item appears in the inventory list of the Schloss Collection, dated 1923 (see appendix, pp. 146-148), and is documented in a 1931 collection photograph (see p. 11).