)KSCRIITIVE CATALOGUE OF A COLLECTION OF OBIFXTS OF 

 JFWLSIl CFT^EMONIAL 



DEPOSITED IN THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BY HADJI EPHRAIM 



BENGUIAT. 



By Cyrus Adler, Pn. D., 

 Custodian, Serf ion of Historic Religions Ceremonials, 



AND 



I. M. Casanowicz, Ph. D., 

 Aid, Division of Historic Arclirrologi/. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Hadji Ephraim Benguiat, the owner of the collection here described, 

 is the descendant of an illustrious Spanish Jewish familj' which traces 

 its origin as far back as the beginning- of the eleventh century. Many 

 members of the famil}' have distinguished themselves in Biblical and 

 rabbinical learning, in philosophy and letters. The love for religious 

 art has been a tradition in the family, and many of the objects of the 

 collection are family heirlooms. 



The collection comprises all the important objects which come into 

 use in Jewish religious life, and is unique for its artistic and historical 

 value. 



I. OBJECTS USED IN THE SERVICE OF THE SYNAGOGUE. 



1. ToRAH SCROLL. — Parchment scroll of the Pentateuch in Hebrew 

 mounted on wooden rollers, wrapped in a cloth of green velvet em- 

 broidered in silk, which is held by a silver-worked belt and covered 

 with a mantle of l)lack velvet embroidered in gold. The upper han- 

 dles of the rollers are of carved wood, the lower of ivory, with silver 

 bells on the rollers. The scroll was made in Smyrna, Asia Minor, in 

 the eighteenth century. The bells were manufactured in Damascus 

 and bear the inscription: "Joseph, son of Ephraim Benguiat." Height 



H5 



