Important Judaica

In the wake of last season’s record breaking Delmonico Sale and the history-making exhibition of the Valmadonna Collection, this year’s sale of Important Judaica again re-asserts the primacy of Sotheby’s in providing the finest offerings of Hebrew manuscripts, printed books, paintings, ceremonial metalwork and works of art of Judaic interest. These include the earliest complete decorated Esther Scroll; produced in Venice in 1564 by Estellina, daughter of Menahem, it is the only known megillah to have been written by a woman in the pre-modern era. Another superlative feature of the sale is the oldest complete Torah Scroll from Spain, dating to the late 13th century. Among the outstanding silver offerings is an Important German Parcel-Gilt Silver Hanukah Lamp [Augsburg, ca. 1750], formerly owned by the prominent Frankfurt antiquarian, Selig Meier Goldschmidt, confidant of Baron Carl von Rothschild and patron of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. The selection of paintings includes two magnificent portraits by Isidor Kaufmann, and Max Rabes’ The Tomb of Absalom, painted for Kaiser Wilhelm.