Selection of etchings on Jewish topics from Bernard Picart’s monumental book series, Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the World .
* Two etchings on one page: Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam: The top etching depicts the priestly blessing, the bottom one, raising the Torah scroll.
* Erev Yom Kippur: The custom of receiving lashes in the synagogue(!)
* Two etchings on one page: The top one depicts hakafot in the synagogue on Simchat Torah; the bottom one depicts Jews covering a fresh grave with dirt (apparently in the famous Spanish Portuguese cemetery outside Amsterdam).
* Two etchings on one page: The top one depicts the Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam on Simchat Torah, with the doors of the holy ark open showing the many Torah scrolls; and the bottom one, “manière de conduire les epoux de la loy, chez eux,” apparently the crowd is accompanying a young couple to their home at the end of their wedding.
* Ritual items: “All the items necessary for ritual service,” the top depicts the accessories necessary for ritual circumcision, underneath is an open Torah scroll, a closed book, a magnificent coat and a pomegranate.
* Etching with ritual items: Shabbat lamp, tzitzit, the four species, a shofar, and more.
* Tallit and tefillin, presented from various angles. (An interesting detail about this etching is that it depicts round tefillin shel yad, which is something deliberated by the adjudicators. There are those who saw this as proof that in Amsterdam, it was customary to use round tefillin – the latest reference to this custom).
* Rare etching by Picart, apparently not one from the known series: Shofar blowing in the Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam.
* Etching of the Portuguese synagogue in The Hague; the etching which was underneath has been cropped.
[9] leaves, 24×40 cm.
Overall fine-very condition, minimal blemishes in the margins, without damage to the etching nor the text.