NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s annual auction of Important Judaica on 4 December 2014 features an outstanding array of Hebrew books and manuscripts, important paintings, and ritual silver and metalwork. The sale is headlined by over 80 rare books and manuscripts from a Distinguished Collection, which together chronicle more than five centuries of Jewish culture. Carefully curated over the past four decades, the collection offers a wide range of works with price points accessible to both new collectors as well as to those with more established collections. The auction, which presents works from across the globe, also features an important selection of Judaica Americana, including important synagogue foundational documents from the 19th and 20th centuries. A further highlight of the sale is a volume of the earliest ever printing of the Hebrew bible, which includes the first edition of Kimhi’s commentary on Psalms. Featured in the paintings section is the dignified Portrait of a Rabbi by renowned Jewish artist Isidor Kaufmann. The sale will be on view in our York Avenue galleries from 30 November through 3 December, alongside the sale of Israeli & International Art.

PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED COLLECTION
The Mahzor Le-Kol Ha-Shanah Ke-Minhag Ashkenaz; Sefer Tehilim (Ashkenazi Prayer Book For The Entire Year; Book Of Psalms), illustrated above, is one of the highlights from this distinguished collection (est. $550/750,000). Aryeh Judah Leib Sofer ben Elhanan Katz, the scribe and artist who created this outstanding prayerbook, was influential in launching an artistic renaissance in the early decades of the 18th century, when Court Jews in Germany and Central Europe began to commisison elaborately decorated Hebrew books as luxury items. The present lot epitomizes this period, and was only the second work produced by this renowned scribe. Of the 19 manuscripts created by Aryeh Judah Leib, only 12 are known to have survived the vicissitudes of Jewish life in Europe over the past three centuries.

A further highlight from this exquisite collection is the Seder Pirkei Shirah…Ve-Sefer Tehillim…Ve-Seder Tefilat Yom Kippur Katan (est. $750,000/1 million), by the scribe and artist Meshulam Zimmel ben Moses of Polna. Renowned for the accomplished delicacy of his line, Zimmel is especially skilled in his depiction of animals. Nowhere is this expertise better demonstrated than in the illustrations executed by Zimmel in the present work, wherein all elements of creation sing praise to God. The inspirational texts of this composition when joined with the unique talents of this accomplished scribe have combined to make this book one of the finest eighteenth-century decorated Hebrew manuscripts in existence.

JUDAICA AMERICANA
A highlight of the Judaica Americana section is The Occident and American Jewish Advocate by Isaac Leeser (est. $150/250,000). The present lot is a complete run of Leeser’s periodical, The Occident, which ran from 1843-1869 and ultimately defined American Jewry and American Judaism for the 19th Century. It is arguably the single most important historical record of mid-19th century Jewish life in the Western Hemisphere. An entire run of The Occident has never before appeared at auction.

The first English-language publication directed to American Jewish women gave voice to the aspirations, hopes, and fears of Americanizing Jewish women at the end of the 19th century. The American Jewess included controversial issues such as synagogue membership for women as well as health, household and fashion tips, early expressions of American Zionism, and short fiction.

PAINTINGS
The dignified Portrait of a Rabbi (est. $200/300,000) shows celebrated Jewish painter Isidor Kaufmann at the height of his powers. The sitter, a favorite of Kaufmann’s, embodies the nobility of the elderly Jewish sage, devoted to Torah and a Jewish way of life that was fast disappearing from the villages to which Kaufmann travelled each summer in the early 1900s. Kaufmann’s place in the history of celebrated Viennese portraiture was recognized this past season with his inclusion in a landmark exhibition at the National Gallery in London.

ADDITIONAL SALE HIGHLIGHTS

Tehillim (Psalms) With Commentary of David Kimhi, Italy [Bologna] Joseph and Nerijah Hayyim, Mordecai and Hezekiah Montero, 29 August 1477 Est. $70/90,000
The present volume is the earliest ever printing of the Hebrew bible, and includes the first edition of Kimhi’s commentary on Psalms.

An Important Decorative Synagogue Textile; [Verona, Italy: late 17th Century] 9 x 116 in.; 23 x 295 cm. Estimate $55/70,000
Important textiles in the auction include the above work, which comprises 16 lavishly executed medallions, each corresponding to a particular event on the Jewish liturgical calendar.

Property of a New York Private Collector "These Are My Feasts": A Set of Seven Israeli Silver Kiddush Cups, Menahem Berman, Jerusalem, 1997-99 Estimate $40/60,000
These seven masterpieces of modern silver Judaica have been designed with motifs representing Shabbat, Sukkot, Shavuot, Rosh Hashana, Simchat
Torah, Pesach and Elijah’s Cup.