Large Illustrated Engraving – Wedding Poem for the Levi-Polacco and Sullam Families – Verona, 17th Century

Large Illustrated Engraving – Wedding Poem for the Levi-Polacco and Sullam Families – Verona, 17th Century

Single leaf, large format (engraving) – wedding poem in honor of the groom Yosef son of Chaim Segal [Levi] Polacco, and the bride Gracia daughter of Moshe Sullam, by R. Avraham son of R. Yosef Marini. [Italy, Verona?, ca. second half of the 17th century].
A large jug is depicted in the center of the engraving, held by a hand pouring water from it into a basin. The poem in honor of the bride and groom, forming a repeated acrostic of their names "Yosef Polacco" and "Gracia Sullam", is incorporated in the illustration.
To the right, a putto is portrayed holding in one hand a ribbon inscribed "Seder HaMadregah", and in the other a medallion with a detailed inscription regarding the bride and groom, beginning with the verse: "And Joseph found favor", alluding to the names of the bride and groom (Gracia = grace, favor). Inscriptions at the base of the jug and its upper edge. The Hebrew letters Chet and Nun, which open and close every line of the poem, are enlarged, forming together the word Chen – grace.
The water basin contains two paragraphs in Italian, with poetic expressions, allusions to the names of the bride and groom, and more. Signature of the author of the poem on the foot of the basin: "Avraham son of R. Yosef Marini".
The illustration of a hand pouring water from a jug was a common emblem amongst Levite families, and indeed served as emblem of the Levi Polacco family, see: Elivo Giuditta, Araldica ebraica in Italia, [Torino: Società Italiana di Studi Araldici], 2007, p. 136. This illustration is also found on two ketubot from Verona, both recording the marriages of sisters of the present groom, from the Polacco family: Venturina daughter of Chaim Polacco and Yosef son of Zalman Basevi, dated 13 Kislev 1686; Bella daughter of Chaim Polacco and Yaakov son of Moshe Sullam, dated 7 Cheshvan 1696.
A Torah ark curtain from Verona, completed in 1676, bears a dedication by Yosef son of Chaim Segal Polacco (the present groom), dated 1703 (see: Bracha Yaniv, Maaseh Rokem, Jerusalem 2009, p. 175; Dora Liscia Bemporad and Olga Melasecchi, Tutti i colori dell'Italia ebraica, Firenze: Giunti, 2019, p. 155).
Regarding the Polacco family in Verona, one of the prominent Ashkenazic families in the city (the family originated from Posen, Poland), see: I. Sonne, Material on the History of the Jews in Verona, Zion, year 3, book 2, Shevat 1938, p. 152.

R. Avraham son of R. Yosef Marini, author of the present wedding poem, presumably also lived in Verona. A supercommentary he authored to the Torah commentary of R. Avraham ibn Ezra is extant in manuscript (JTS Library Ms. 971), written in Verona in 1691, for "Shimshon son of the wealthy… Yaakov HaKohen Modon" (later a Torah scholar in Mantua, author of Kol Musar). There are also other extant poems by R. Avraham Marini, including a single printed leaf (from the Valmadonna collection), with a poem he composed in honor of the Menachem Avelim society in Mantua in ca. 1690 (the leaf mentions R. Moshe Zacuto, the Remez); and a single leaf with a wedding poem in honor of David Uziel and Sarah Vega, printed in Mantua around that time.

The Sullam family was a prominent Sephardic family originating from Provence, who lived in Mantua, Venice and the Veneto region. There is a printed leaf with a poem in honor of the wedding of Menachem son of Moshe Sullam, brother of the present bride, composed by R. Moshe Zacuto and printed in Mantua, in ca. 1680s-1690s (Judaica Jerusalem, Adar 2004, item 1). Regarding the "wealthy Sullam of Mantua" (possibly the father of the present bride), whom R. Chaim ibn Attar approached for support of the Knesset Israel yeshiva which he wanted to establish in Eretz Israel, see: Dr. B. Klar, Neue Briefe zur Palästinafahrt des R. Chajjim ibn Atar, in: Alim – Blätter für Bibliographie und Geschichte des Judentums, Year 3, vol. 2, October 1937, pp. 41-45.

57X44 cm. Overall good condition. Stains. Folding marks and wear. Tears, repaired in part with paper on verso.

Literature: A Hebrew Wedding Poem in an Eccentric Form." Between the Lines. A

Publication of the Friends of the [JTS] Library 3, 2 (Spring 1990): 3 [Not signed].