An American Silver Mezuzah, Ilya Schor, New York, Late 1950s

Playing instruments within a border of scrolling flowers and foliage, birds and animals. The hinged door pierced and engraved with a decorative letter “Shin,” and inscribed with the Hebrew verse from a Sabbath hymn, Eat in gladness for He has already shown you favor. With double loaves and the Great Kiddush, another musician playing a violin flanked by a scrolling border incorporating two birds, with a decorative element above, the lower section depicts two bearded men in traditional garb shaking hands and holding goblets. The door opens to reveal a painting in polychrome and gold leaf depicting a bearded man in a prayer shawl holding an open Torah aloft within a scrolling border and the letter Shin, the artist’s name inscribed in Hebrew and English with bird emblem on the back, door interior inscribed From the Study Group

4 oz

124.4 g

length 7 1/2 in.

19 cm