Lot Essay
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MAKER'S MARK OF ZALMON BOSTWICK, NEW YORK, CIRCA 1850
Details
A Pair of Highly Important American Silver Rimmonim
Maker's Mark of Zalmon Bostwick, New York, circa 1850
Each on a circular base raised with six floral lobes. The cylindrical stem decorated ensuite surmounted by six balls supporting the fruit-shaped body with six heartshaped lobes decorated with foliate flowers and with applied floral scrolls with brackets for originally twelve gilt bells, some missing, the similarly decorated and shaped crown top with six bells is resting on six plain balls and surmounted by a beaded bud finial on a plain dome.
37.5cm. (14 3/4in.) high
1354gr.
The Bostwick Torah finials of ca. 1850 are almost certainly the only fully-marked American Rimmonim extant from the 19th century. As such, they represent an extremely rare, perhaps unique, commission in the early history of American Judaica.
Prior to the late 19th century, American Jews relied almost exclusively on European makers for their ceremonial objects. A significant departure from this practice occured in the late 18th century, when the famous Jewish silversmith Myer Myers (NYC, 1723-1797) crafted the first examples of American Judaica. Among his surviving works are five magnificent pairs of Torah finials, produced for synagogues in New York City, Philadelphia and Newport, Rhode Island. Myers' truly exceptional pieces, however, did not initiate a new taste for American-made finials. The continuous history of American Rimmonim in particular, and American Judaica in general, did not begin until the late 19th early 20th-century.
Zalmon Bostwick's Torah finials, crafted in New York City, ca. 1850, bridge this startling gap of more than one hundred years. Quite likely as rare in their own day as they are in ours, they reflect both the past and future of 19th-century American Rimmonim: while their formal details hearken back to Myer Myers' famous 18th-century examples, their mere existence anticipates the emergence, by the century's end, of American-manufactured Judaica. Interestingly enough, unlike these latter works, which often bore "false Russian hallmarks to make them acceptable to the new immigrants from Eastern Europe" (Grafman, Crowning Glory, 37f), the fully-marked Bostwick Rimmonim make no effort to conceal their local provenance from the rapidly-expanding New York Jewish community.
The early to mid-19th century marked an exceptional period in the history of New York Jewry. As immigration soared and new freedoms were granted, the number of congregations in New York City increased exponentially. The city's first synagogue, Shearith Israel, lost its singular position in 1825 with the founding of the Bnai Jeshurun Congregation. Numerous congregations followed in rapid succession: Anshe Chesed (1828), Shaarey Zedek (1839), Shaarey Hashamayim (1839), Rodeph Shalom (1842), Temple Emanu-El (1845), Bnai Israel (1847) and Shaarey Brocho (1851). It is precisely during this period of unprecedented congregational multiplication and synagogue construction that Zalmon Bostwick was commissioned to craft a pair of Torah finials. While most of these new congregations (or their benefactors) looked abroad to adorn their new establishments, one seemingly turned to Lower Manhattan, where, according to his advertisement in the New York mercantile Register of 1848-1849, Zalmon Bostwick was making silver "in the best style ... surpassed by none in standard nor weight".
In addition to proclaiming the excellent quality of his craftsmanship and materials, Bostwick's advertisement announced that he had "made extensive preparation for the manufacture of Silver Ware, in all its branches [italics added]." Relatively few examples of his craftsmanship survive today. Two pitcher and goblet sets of 1845 in the Brooklyn Museum and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, however, attest not only to Bostwick's consummate skill but also to his creative adaptation of models. Both of these qualities are similarly apparent in his Torah finials, the only recorded Judaica objects by his hand. Very likely the most unfamiliar branch of Silver Ware Bostwick was ever commissioned to produce, the highly-specialized and historically un-American field of Judaica surely posed a challenge for this local craftsman.
That Bostwick found inspiration for his finials in the famous examples by Myer Myers is suggested by a subtle yet revealing formal detail: a circlet of spheres which separates the main, undulating body from the shaft below and/or the crown above. This motif appears on four of the five surviving pairs of Myers finials, where it divides the body from the shaft: in two of these pairs, a second circlet further separates the body from the crown. A ubiquitous feature of Myer's finials, this decorative element does not seem to appear on European examples, and might thus be regarded as Myers' own personal creation. Whether through sketches or the objects themselves (at least one pair of Myer's finials remained in New York City), Bostwick picked up on this detail, increasing its prominence in his own design, where it more clearly separates and elevates one part from the next.
While the undulating silhouette of Bostwick's finials suggests a simplified version of Myers' more complex contours, a more secure connection between the two is again found in the details: for Bostwick employs another formal device favored by his colonial predecessor: paired "C"-shaped brackets used to project the finial's bells away from its body. Employed on all five extant pairs of Myers' Rimmonim, this feature, together with that of the circlet, strongly supports the direct influence of Myer Myers' 18th-century finials, upon their extremely-rare, if not unique, counterparts of the mid-19th century. (2)
Maker's Mark of Zalmon Bostwick, New York, circa 1850
Each on a circular base raised with six floral lobes. The cylindrical stem decorated ensuite surmounted by six balls supporting the fruit-shaped body with six heartshaped lobes decorated with foliate flowers and with applied floral scrolls with brackets for originally twelve gilt bells, some missing, the similarly decorated and shaped crown top with six bells is resting on six plain balls and surmounted by a beaded bud finial on a plain dome.
37.5cm. (14 3/4in.) high
1354gr.
The Bostwick Torah finials of ca. 1850 are almost certainly the only fully-marked American Rimmonim extant from the 19th century. As such, they represent an extremely rare, perhaps unique, commission in the early history of American Judaica.
Prior to the late 19th century, American Jews relied almost exclusively on European makers for their ceremonial objects. A significant departure from this practice occured in the late 18th century, when the famous Jewish silversmith Myer Myers (NYC, 1723-1797) crafted the first examples of American Judaica. Among his surviving works are five magnificent pairs of Torah finials, produced for synagogues in New York City, Philadelphia and Newport, Rhode Island. Myers' truly exceptional pieces, however, did not initiate a new taste for American-made finials. The continuous history of American Rimmonim in particular, and American Judaica in general, did not begin until the late 19th early 20th-century.
Zalmon Bostwick's Torah finials, crafted in New York City, ca. 1850, bridge this startling gap of more than one hundred years. Quite likely as rare in their own day as they are in ours, they reflect both the past and future of 19th-century American Rimmonim: while their formal details hearken back to Myer Myers' famous 18th-century examples, their mere existence anticipates the emergence, by the century's end, of American-manufactured Judaica. Interestingly enough, unlike these latter works, which often bore "false Russian hallmarks to make them acceptable to the new immigrants from Eastern Europe" (Grafman, Crowning Glory, 37f), the fully-marked Bostwick Rimmonim make no effort to conceal their local provenance from the rapidly-expanding New York Jewish community.
The early to mid-19th century marked an exceptional period in the history of New York Jewry. As immigration soared and new freedoms were granted, the number of congregations in New York City increased exponentially. The city's first synagogue, Shearith Israel, lost its singular position in 1825 with the founding of the Bnai Jeshurun Congregation. Numerous congregations followed in rapid succession: Anshe Chesed (1828), Shaarey Zedek (1839), Shaarey Hashamayim (1839), Rodeph Shalom (1842), Temple Emanu-El (1845), Bnai Israel (1847) and Shaarey Brocho (1851). It is precisely during this period of unprecedented congregational multiplication and synagogue construction that Zalmon Bostwick was commissioned to craft a pair of Torah finials. While most of these new congregations (or their benefactors) looked abroad to adorn their new establishments, one seemingly turned to Lower Manhattan, where, according to his advertisement in the New York mercantile Register of 1848-1849, Zalmon Bostwick was making silver "in the best style ... surpassed by none in standard nor weight".
In addition to proclaiming the excellent quality of his craftsmanship and materials, Bostwick's advertisement announced that he had "made extensive preparation for the manufacture of Silver Ware, in all its branches [italics added]." Relatively few examples of his craftsmanship survive today. Two pitcher and goblet sets of 1845 in the Brooklyn Museum and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, however, attest not only to Bostwick's consummate skill but also to his creative adaptation of models. Both of these qualities are similarly apparent in his Torah finials, the only recorded Judaica objects by his hand. Very likely the most unfamiliar branch of Silver Ware Bostwick was ever commissioned to produce, the highly-specialized and historically un-American field of Judaica surely posed a challenge for this local craftsman.
That Bostwick found inspiration for his finials in the famous examples by Myer Myers is suggested by a subtle yet revealing formal detail: a circlet of spheres which separates the main, undulating body from the shaft below and/or the crown above. This motif appears on four of the five surviving pairs of Myers finials, where it divides the body from the shaft: in two of these pairs, a second circlet further separates the body from the crown. A ubiquitous feature of Myer's finials, this decorative element does not seem to appear on European examples, and might thus be regarded as Myers' own personal creation. Whether through sketches or the objects themselves (at least one pair of Myer's finials remained in New York City), Bostwick picked up on this detail, increasing its prominence in his own design, where it more clearly separates and elevates one part from the next.
While the undulating silhouette of Bostwick's finials suggests a simplified version of Myers' more complex contours, a more secure connection between the two is again found in the details: for Bostwick employs another formal device favored by his colonial predecessor: paired "C"-shaped brackets used to project the finial's bells away from its body. Employed on all five extant pairs of Myers' Rimmonim, this feature, together with that of the circlet, strongly supports the direct influence of Myer Myers' 18th-century finials, upon their extremely-rare, if not unique, counterparts of the mid-19th century. (2)
Literature
Ensko,American Silversmiths and their Marks, Boston, 1989, p. 24 and 346.
Grafman, R., Crowning Glory. Silver Torah Ornaments of the Jewish Museum, New York (ed. Vivian B. Mann), 1996.
The magazine Antiques, vol. 112 (September 1982), p. 446.
Rainwater, D. Encyclopedia of American Silver Manufacturers, 1978, p. 27
Schoenberger, G., The Ritual Silver Made by Myer Myers, in Beauty in Holiness, ed. J. Gutmann, pp. 67 ff.
Wyler, S., The Book of Old Silver, 1969, p. 124
Grafman, R., Crowning Glory. Silver Torah Ornaments of the Jewish Museum, New York (ed. Vivian B. Mann), 1996.
The magazine Antiques, vol. 112 (September 1982), p. 446.
Rainwater, D. Encyclopedia of American Silver Manufacturers, 1978, p. 27
Schoenberger, G., The Ritual Silver Made by Myer Myers, in Beauty in Holiness, ed. J. Gutmann, pp. 67 ff.
Wyler, S., The Book of Old Silver, 1969, p. 124