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Lot Essay
The maker Johann Christoph Müller is recorded by E. Hintze, Die Breslauer Goldschmiede, Breslau, 1906, pl. IV, No. 138. This important Breslau maker became a master in 1721, and married in the same year the daughter of the goldsmith Gottfried Gideon Eberlein the Elder. He died in 1758. He is recorded as making a number of pieces including covered beakers and two Torah shields. One of these shields is dated 1731-37 and is now in the Jewish Museum of New York (see R. Grafman, Crowning Glory, Silver Torah Ornaments of the Jewish Museum, New York, 1996, no. 42, illus. p. 98). The other, dated 1737-45, is now in the Stern Collection, New York.
Breslau (in Polish, Wroclaw), a city in Silesia, was part of Germany until the end of the second World War. Its Jewish community maintained regular and ofter flourishing commercial ties with Western Galicia, while many Polish Jews attended the fairs in Breslau which were important for trading throughout the entire region.
This small and rare Torah Ark shares many characteristics with the numerous magnificent carved wooden polychrome and gilded arks which formed an indispensible part of East European (mainly Polish) Jewish art and were almost completely destroyed during the second World War. The meticulous attention to detail in the present example, the elaborate background of the foliate decoration and the shape and style in general all show strong Polish influence. This ark then is an important survival of one of the most outstanding Jewish artistic achievements in Eastern Europe - the wooden synagogue interior.
Very few Torah Arks of this type are known to have survived and, of those that do, all would seem to be later in date. There appears apparently to be no record of any at public auction in the last forty years. Of the later examples mention should be made of a silver-giurty years. Of the later examples mention should be made of a silver-gilt miniature Torah Ark, Vienna, 1783, which is now in the Hebrew Union College Skirball Museum, Los Angeles (J. Gutmann, The Jewish Sanctuary, Leiden, 1983, pl.xxxii) and an important parcel-gilt Polish Torah Ark, 1838, from the Collection of J. Kaufmann, Frankfurt-am-Main (illustrated in Menorah, Feb 1929, vol. vii, no. 2, p. 67, and sold at Parke-Bernet, March 17, 1955, lot 124). In addition, there is a parcel-gilt Chanukkah lamp in the form of a Torah Ark made in Brody, Galicia, in 1787, of which the back plate is based on the elaborate form of the East European wooden Torah Arks (see V. B. Mann, Treasures of the Jewish Museum, New York, NY, 1986, p. 110).
Breslau (in Polish, Wroclaw), a city in Silesia, was part of Germany until the end of the second World War. Its Jewish community maintained regular and ofter flourishing commercial ties with Western Galicia, while many Polish Jews attended the fairs in Breslau which were important for trading throughout the entire region.
This small and rare Torah Ark shares many characteristics with the numerous magnificent carved wooden polychrome and gilded arks which formed an indispensible part of East European (mainly Polish) Jewish art and were almost completely destroyed during the second World War. The meticulous attention to detail in the present example, the elaborate background of the foliate decoration and the shape and style in general all show strong Polish influence. This ark then is an important survival of one of the most outstanding Jewish artistic achievements in Eastern Europe - the wooden synagogue interior.
Very few Torah Arks of this type are known to have survived and, of those that do, all would seem to be later in date. There appears apparently to be no record of any at public auction in the last forty years. Of the later examples mention should be made of a silver-giurty years. Of the later examples mention should be made of a silver-gilt miniature Torah Ark, Vienna, 1783, which is now in the Hebrew Union College Skirball Museum, Los Angeles (J. Gutmann, The Jewish Sanctuary, Leiden, 1983, pl.xxxii) and an important parcel-gilt Polish Torah Ark, 1838, from the Collection of J. Kaufmann, Frankfurt-am-Main (illustrated in Menorah, Feb 1929, vol. vii, no. 2, p. 67, and sold at Parke-Bernet, March 17, 1955, lot 124). In addition, there is a parcel-gilt Chanukkah lamp in the form of a Torah Ark made in Brody, Galicia, in 1787, of which the back plate is based on the elaborate form of the East European wooden Torah Arks (see V. B. Mann, Treasures of the Jewish Museum, New York, NY, 1986, p. 110).