Large, Early, Colorful Ketubah – Golpayegan, Iran, 1838

Large, Early, Colorful Ketubah – Golpayegan, Iran, 1838

Ketubah recording the marriage of the groom Yaakov son of Daniel, to the bride Rachel daughter of Netanel. Golpayegan, Isfahan province, Iran, 15 Sivan 1838..
Ink and paint on paper; printed paper (stamped), pasted.
Large ketubah, decorated in bold colors – one of the earliest extant ketubot from Golpayegan, and one of the most finely decorated. The text of the ketubah occupies the center of the leaf, surrounded on all sides by ornamented borders of vegetal and geometric patterns in green and red, and with verses of blessings. Several birds are depicted between the flowers and leaves. Rhyming blessings in two columns above the ketubah text, surmounted by a pediment-like ornament, also decorated with verses of blessings and repetitive vegetal and geometric patterns. Blessings in alphabetical order surround the edge of the ketubah, close to the outermost border. The ketubah is mounted on a golden-copper paper frame, with printed floral, foliate and fruit motifs (similar paper borders – though usually without ornaments – are found in other ketubot from Isfahan). The ketubah is signed by the scribe and first witness Moshe son of R. Yissachar. To the right of his signature, addition in Judeo-Persian (in Hebrew characters), followed by the signatures of the other witnesses.
Included in the Gross Family Collection is another ketubah scribed by Moshe son of R. Yissachar, documenting a wedding held in Kashan (Isfahan province) in 1834 (no. 035.011.050).

70.5X49.5 cm. Fair condition. Folding marks, creases and stains. Several tears, occasionally affecting text and ornaments.

Reference and exhibitions:
* Iran, edited by Haim Saadoun. Jerusalem, Yad Ben Zvi, 2005, p. 190 (Hebrew).
* Sharkiya, by Esther Shkalim. Or Yehuda, Kinneret Zmora-Bitan, 2006, p. 20 (Hebrew).
* Light and Shadows: The Story of Iran and the Jews, by Hagai Segev and Orit Engelberg Baram. Tel Aviv, Beit Hatfutsot, 2010, p. 108, (Hebrew).
* Light and Shadows: The Story of Iranian Jews, edited by David Yeroushalmi. Los Angeles, Fowler Museum at UCLA / Tel Aviv, Beit Hatfutsot, 2012, p. 126.
Provenance: The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 035.011.020.
The ketubah is documented on the NLI website, and on the Center for Jewish Art (CJA) website, item no. 45792.