Judaica: An Antique American Decalogue

An 18th century naive landscape, in the middle ground is a neoclassical structure and round tower, the forerground with an extensive landscape depictin...

The Canterbury appears early in the 19th century for sheet music and papers and continues until now in some form. This example has neatly turned uprights. It has a single drawer be...

Paint and gold paint on wood Circa early to mid 20th century. This is not signed A treasure from a proud congregation. It is a hand-carved wooden sculpture showing the Tablets of the Law flanked by two Lions of Judah. Their paws held the tablets. Their roaring mouths faced outward, protecting the commandments from threats. In a foliage design with gold and silver paint. Circa 1920-1940's. This Neoclassical, Judaic, Art Deco, Egyptian revival, Shul, Aron Kodesh hand carving, wood with gilding, Hebrew lettering ten commandments sign sculpture, was produced probably in New York. There was a show at the Folk Art Museum titled “Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses: The Synagogue to the Carousel” That featured these antique magnificent pieces. From gilded lions to high-stepping horses, the sacred to the secular, and the Old World to the New, “Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses: The Synagogue to the Carousel” traces the journey of Jewish woodcarvers and other artisans from Eastern and Central Europe to America and the unsung role they played in establishing a distinct Jewish culture in communities throughout the United States. The exuberant artworks stand as a testament to a history of survival and transformation and provide a surprising revelation of the link that was forged between the synagogue and the carousel as immigrant Jewish artists transferred symbolic visual elements into this vernacular American idiom. The first major study of this important aspect of the Jewish contribution to American folk art, the exhibition features approximately one hundred artworks and objects, including rare documentary photographs of Eastern European synagogue arks and carved gravestones, sacred carvings, papercuts, and carousel animals. Some of these same Jewish European carvers worked on Coney Island amusement park rides and carousel horses and other carnival and circus carvings.

A 19th Century Polish Brass Hanukkah Lamp. The cast backplate presents a pierced lion leaning on one side of an outlined majestic crown. "To light the candle of Hanukkah is written...