Silver, parcel gilt and enamel, London hallmarks for 1996, mark of Gerald Benney (CBE, RDI)

Torah crown. London. 1996. This crown is richly enamelled in red to symbolise an event in the Book of Exodus when Moses was on Mount Sinai and saw the burning bush. The twelve gemstones represent the twelve tribes of Israel.


The crown consists of a sheet of silver which has been formed into the shape of a dome. On the outside of the silver is an appled layer of red enamel. Pinned to the red enamel are silvergilt 'flames' which symbolise the flames from the burning bush on Mt Sinai. In between the flames are strips of silver which arch over the enamel and rise to the top of the crown where there is a smaller crown with bells attached. Around the rim of the crown is a band of textured silver. Pinned to this band are 12 gemstones, each one symbolising one the the twelve tribes of Isreal.

David Jeselsohn

Gerald Benney made this crown for the competition: "Celebrating 3000 years of Jerusalem"

Contemporary Judaica in Britain
Judaica has always reflected the artistic styles of its time. In the late 19th century ceremonial silver was available through large companies such as Joseph & Horace Savory and cherished pieces were brought into England by the Jews who had fled the pogroms in Eastern Europe. In the first half of the 20th century the two world wars and the Holocaust meant that little Jewish silver was produced. It was not until Jewish communities had become more established that synagogues began to commission new work. The designers were often non-Jewish, as was Professor Gerald Benney, the eminent silversmith who began to make ceremonial objects in contemporary styles in the 1960s. More recently a new generation of silversmiths, including Tamar de Vries Winter, have continued to make ritual objects. Their work has enabled traditional Jewish religious customs and practices to be fulfilled in a modern style.

In Judaism the Torah (the scroll containing the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) is usually decorated with either a crown or a pair of finials. The crown symbolises majesty and the Law.

The maker of this brilliantly executed crown was the eminent silversmith, Professor Gerald Benney. Although he was not Jewish himself, Benney began to make Jewish ceremonial objects in the 1960s, in a contemporary style. Here he has used red enamel to symbolise the burning bush that Moses saw in the desert and 12 gemstones to represent the 12 tribes of Israel.

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