AN IMPORTANT CUT-OUT PAPER SUKAH DECORATION. Vilna, 1841.

A papercut, hand painted in watercolors, which depicts at either side a potted blooming pomegranate tree; in center, flanked by deer below and owls above, a crowned depiction of the Temple Menorah. The whole linked by foliate elements, and framed by geometric rows and solid bands. Above the deer, two plaques inscribed in Hebrew “From This Side, the Breath of Life.” The Menorah is topped by a plaque labelled “East” in Hebrew; the Hebrew Festival of “Sukkoth” is named at the top; the bottom inscription identifies the piece as the work of the unmarried man, Jonathan Kalischer, who executed this piece in Vilna 1841, to commemorate the memory of the Great Elijah, Gaon of Vilna. 340 x 290mm. Framed, minor tears.

This papercut would have hung on the Eastern wall of a Sukkah, indicating the direction of prayer. It was made to commemorate the Vilna Gaon (1720 -1797), perhaps the best known of the sages who lived in the “Jerusalem of Lithuania.” For a similar example in the collection of the Israel Museum see I. Shachar, Jewish Tradition in Art: The Feuchtwanger Collection of Judaica (1971) No. 112 color plate VII, p. 52. Among the examples of papercut Mizrachs published, those designed for Sukkoth are most uncommon. See Shadur, J. & Y. Jewish Papercuts (1994). Dr. Michael Magen of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem has contributed to the scholarship concerning this Lot SEE ILLUSTRATION