Rare Antique Silver Etrog Box with Lions and Ten Commandments

#18349: Rare Antique Silver Etrog Box with Lions and Ten Commandments
Continental, 18th century
Height 14cm, width 10.5cm, depth 10.5cm, weight 400g

This parcel-gilt box was made to hold the etrog, a yellow citrus fruit known as a citron, used during the Jewish festival of Sukkot. The etrog is one of the Four Species used ceremonially during the week-long festival. Etrog containers survive in a variety of forms, from covered bowls and caskets to spherical examples such as this one.
Raised on four ball feet, the box divides at the equator into a bowl and detachable domed cover, its interior gilt. The exterior is engraved with running scrollwork, foliate motifs and the Hebrew inscription peri etz hadar ('fruit of a beautiful tree'), the biblical phrase traditionally understood to refer to the etrog.
The cover is engraved with further Hebrew inscriptions, set among the scrolling foliate ground, and is surmounted by a stepped plinth supporting the Tablets of the Law, engraved with abbreviated forms of the Ten Commandments. Two lions with curled manes and raised forepaws flank the Tablets, a motif long established in Jewish ceremonial art.
The hand-worked body retains its planished surface, with hammer marks visible across both hemispheres, while the underside bears a single pseudo mark.

$14,250