6 Torah shield
6. Torah shield
Franz Lorenz Turinsky
Gold-plated silver, engrossed, engraved
From the collection of the Jewish Museum of Óbuda, 1950
It is not compulsory to use Torah ornaments according to Jewish religion: these are objects that aim to express respect for the Torah scroll. One of the last such objects is the Torah shield, sometimes called crest. They most probably developed in order to hold a small panel that shows which weekly portion the Torah scroll is rolled to. The form of the Torah shields, and often even the iconography on them, typically follow patterns known from noble crests, including the typical form of Austro-Hungarian crests, with a canopy. In the middle of the shield, two lions hold the two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments and the crown above their head. This crest was made by a well-known Viennese silversmith, and purchased by the leaders of the “holy community of Óbuda”. The community exhibited this shield on the Historical Exhibition of Metal Art in 1884, and then at the National Millennial Exhibition in 1896.