Decorated Ketubah on Parchment – Mogador (Essaouira), 1794 – One of the Earliest Moroccan Ketubot

Decorated Ketubah on Parchment – Mogador (Essaouira), 1794 – One of the Earliest Moroccan Ketubot
A colorful decorated Ketubah on parchment, recording the marriage of the groom Menashe ben Yitzchak ben Moshe "called Amzaleg", with the bride Simcha bat Yosef ben David ben Aharon "called ben Shabbat". Essaouira (Mogador, Morocco), Tuesday, the 12th of Sivan, 1794.
Witnesses' signatures: Moshe ebn Yosef Elmeliach, Yosef ebn Ya'akov Banebashti.
Elaborate Ketubah in good condition. Handsome Western-Sephardic handwriting. Outer frame adorned with leaves and flowers in colored ink. A frame of verses - blessing for the groom and the bride. Inner frame in brown ink decorated with rocailles and flowers.
One of the earliest Ketubot known to originate in Morocco. The first known Ketubah from Morocco written on parchment [only one other Ketubah is known to originate from the city of Mogador; it preceded this one by several years; written on paper, lacking and damaged].
Unlike the usual custom in Morocco, to hold weddings on Wednesdays (according to Chazal regulations, Tractate Ketubot, Chapter 1, Mishnah 1), this Ketubah was written for a wedding held on Tuesday.
33X40 cm. Framed in a 54X45 cm. frame. Good condition, stains, folding marks. Several tears to margins.