Torah Shield – Johann Friedrich Ehe – Nuremberg, 18th Century – Later Dedication Commemorating Holocaust Victims

Torah shield, by Johann Friedrich Ehe. Nuremberg, Germany, 1783-1787.

Silver, cast, stamped, repoussé and engraved (marked with the Nuremberg city mark – the letter N, date letter F for 1783-1787, and maker's mark IF/E in a trilobed, clover-like frame).

Designed in the typical Nuremberg style: a prominent crown projects from the top; in the center, a pair of spiral columns – also projecting forward – rest on square bases with rounded fronts, surmounted by rampant lions. Between the columns appears a Tablets of the Law motif; below it, a rectangular slot for interchangeable plaques (plaques missing). Three bells suspended from rings at the bottom; one additional bell set into the crown at the top (all bells original). Original suspension chain.

Later commemorative inscriptions engraved on the shield and bases of the columns: "May G-d remember the souls / of the six million holy martyrs who perished sanctifying His name / in the Holocaust at the hands of the accursed Nazi oppressors… A gift from Israel Yitzchak and his wife Fraida Gittel Wahrmann / Reizel, Chaim Shimon, Moshe Wahrmann".

Johann Friedrich Ehe – master silversmith from 1773 until his death in 1808 – produced numerous Judaica items, including Kiddush cups, spiceboxes, and Torah pointers. Two other Torah shields created by him are held in the Jewish Museum, New York; see: Rafi Grafman, Crowning Glory: Silver Torah Ornaments of the Jewish Museum, New York (New York, 1996), nos. 23-24.

Height: 27 cm. Width: 20.5 cm. Overall good condition. Bends and minor breaks to edges. Several nuts missing on reverse. Interchangeable plaques missing.