Auction 038 Special Chabad Auction in Honor of 11th Nisan - 120 Years from the Birth of the Lubavitcher Rebbe
By Kedem
Apr 5, 2022
8 Ramban St, Jerusalem., Israel
The auction has ended

LOT 1:

Desk Clock of the Mitteler Rebbe – Wedding Gift from the Tzemach Tzedek to His Son the Maharash – With Letter of ...

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Sold for: $24,000
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Desk Clock of the Mitteler Rebbe – Wedding Gift from the Tzemach Tzedek to His Son the Maharash – With Letter of Authenticity Signed by the Great-Granddaughter of the Maharash, Rebbetzin Chanah Gurary


Desk clock of Rebbe Dov Ber, the Mitteler Rebbe of Lubavitch. After the passing of the Mitteler Rebbe (Kislev 1827), his son-in-law the Tzemach Tzedek inherited the clock and gave it years later as a wedding gift to his son the Maharash.
Pendulum clock – presumably Paris, first decades of the 19th century. Mahogany with Ormolu mounts. Rests on four stylized feet. The pendulum is decorated with (modern?) rhinestones.
Letter of authenticity enclosed (handwritten note, in English), signed in Hebrew by Rebbetzin Chanah Gurary (1899-1991), eldest daughter of Rebbe Rayatz: "I hereby gift... the desk clock that the Mittler Rebbe my ancestor received from graf Lumormirsky. The Tzemach Tzedek gave it to his son the Maharash as a wedding gift. My great-grandmother Rivkah [wife of the Maharash] gave it to me for my 10th birthday". Dated – 3rd December 1989. A large wooden box is enclosed, presumably also used by the Rebbe or his family (the box was given together with the present clock, though it is not mentioned in the letter).


The Mitteler Rebbe and Prince Lubomirski
Rebbe Dov Ber – the Mitteler Rebbe settled in the town of Lubavitch, Belarus on 18th Elul 1813, several months after the passing of his father the Baal HaTanya on 24th Tevet 1812, after fleeing Napoleon's army. Following the destruction of Liadi, the hometown of the Baal HaTanya, during the French invasion of Russia, the Mitteler Rebbe, who had just recently succeeded his father as rebbe, sought a place to reestablish his court. Upon the invitation of Prince Lubomirski, member of the prominent Lubomirski Polish princely family, the Mitteler Rebbe settled in Lubavitch in 1813. Lubavitch served as center of the Chabad movement for the next one hundred and two years. The prince, who showed great sympathy to the Jews, even provided the rebbe with wood to build his home and communal buildings.
The support of the Lubomirski family began already in the days of the Baal HaTanya, who settled in Liadi at the invitation of Prince Lubomirski. They were also instrumental in easing the terms of the imprisonment of the Mitteler Rebbe in 1827, and in helping rebuild Lubavitch after a fire destroyed it in the times of the Tzemach Tzedek.
According to the enclosed letter, the Mitteler Rebbe received the present clock from Prince Lubomirski, presumably around the time he settled in Lubavitch in 1813 (for other silver items Prince Lubomirski gifted the Mitteler Rebbe, see Kedem Online Auction 32, item 1; Online Auction 34, item 1; Online Auction 35, item 1).
Further in the enclosed letter, Rebbetzin Chanah Gurary relates how the clock was passed down as an inheritance in the Chabad dynasty from generation to generation. It was first inherited by the Tzemach Tzedek, son-in-law and successor of the Mitteler Rebbe; and later, ca. 1849, the Tzemach Tzedek gave it to his son Rebbe Maharash on the occasion of his wedding to Rebbetzin Rivkah; and many years later, ca. 1909, Rebbetzin Rivka gave the clock as a gift to her great-granddaughter Rebbetzin Chanah (eldest daughter of her grandson Rebbe Rayatz), on the occasion of her 10th birthday.


Clock: 45X9 cm. Good condition. Clock mechanism not examined. Minor defects. One foot loose. Without key. Defects and soldering marks to pendulum (lacking some rhinestones).


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