The concept of the written document for marriage, known as ketubah (pl. ketubot), lent itself to some popular Jewish customs, including the creation of allegorical marriage contracts for Shavuot. As the holiday marks the Giving of the Law, mystical traditions asserted that on this day Moses, as the matchmaker, brought the Jewish people (the bridegroom) to Mount Sinai (the wedding place) to marry God or the Torah (the bride). While several versions of ketubot for Shavuot are known, the most popular in Sephardic communities has been the poetic text composed by the renowned mystic of Safed, Rabbi Israel Najara (1555?–1625?). Divided into three sections, the special text of this Braginsky Collection ketubah appears within an imposing wooden architectural setting, comprising three arches and a broken pediment, within which is a crowned Decalogue. The upper story employs a dynamic rhythm of decorative architectural elements. The entire structure resembles a typical Sephardic Torah ark (ehal) from the synagogues in Gibraltar. Indeed, the name of one of these synagogues, Nefuzot Yehudah, founded 1799, appears at the top. (red)

This marriage contract was made in one of the most important Jewish communities of Italy, the Adriatic seaport of Ancona, which also was a leading center of ketubbah illustrations. The main episode at top center, depicts the prophet Elijah ascending to heaven, riding in his fiery horse-drawn chariot, while his amazed disciple, Elisha, watches below. This scene thus refers to the first name of the bridegroom, Elijah Mordecai, son of the late Judah mi-Cerrata. The other two biblical episodes appear in the cartouches at the center of each of the side borders. At right, the scene of the Triumph of Mordecai, refers to the second name of the bridegroom, Mordecai. Depicted at left is the scene of David holding the head of Goliath; it is to be understood as a reference to David Camerino, father of the bride Tova, daughter of David, son of Abraham Obedai Camerino of Senigallia. (red)

The practice of decorating marriage contracts was revived in early seventeenth-century Amsterdam under the influence of Italian ketubah artists. In the late 1640s, the well-known Jewish engraver Shalom Italia created a copper engraving for ketubot of the Spanish-Portuguese community, which subsequently inspired an anonymous local artist to create a new modified version of this border, present in this Braginsky Collection ketubah of 1668. For more than two hundred years this border adorned Sephardic ketubot produced in Hamburg, Bayonne, London, New York and Curaçao.The calligraphic text commemorates the marriage of a known Sephardic physician, Daniel Tzemah Aboab. (red)

This decorated ketubah, as well as Braginsky Collection K29 produced just six years earlier, represent the height of ketubah illustration in Ancona. The text of this ketubah is centered under the arch supported by a pair of ornamental columns. While arches were commonly used as framing devices in ketubah decorations since the earliest known ketubot from the Cairo Genizah, the gold letters inscribed here against the blue spandrels provide an additional meaning. The six square Hebrew letters, an acronym for Psalms 118:20: “This is the gate of the Lord, through which the righteous may enter”, signify that the bridal couple is symbolically passing through the heavenly gate into a sanctified stage in their life. A depiction of the sacrifice of Isaac, an allusion to the bridegroom whose second name is Isaac, is located in a cartouche at the top center. This scene, a symbol of faithfulness and messianic promise that appears on many italian ketubot, has been the most popular biblical story in Jewish art over the ages. The female figure beneath has not been identified so far. (red)

The ornamentation of this ketubah, which commemorates a wedding between two important families of the Roman ghetto, Toscano and Di Segni, reflects the golden age of ketubah decoration in Rome. The decorative frame is divided into inner and outer borders. Panels adorned with flowers on painted gold fields flank the sides of the text. In the outer frames, crisscrossed micrographic inscriptions form diamond-shaped spaces, each of which contains a large flower. The design in the inner and the outer frames are surrounded by minuscule square Hebrew letters, presenting the entire four chapters of the book of Ruth. (red)

The Roman ketubot (sing. ketubah), the Jewish marriage contracts, in general are distinguished by their elegant Hebrew calligraphy, decorative designs, and attractive appearance. The most popular decorative themes include biblical episodes, allegorical representations, and delicate micrographic designs. The contractual text of this Braginsky Collection ketubah is surrounded by an architectural frame featuring a pair of marble columns entwined by gold leaves and topped with Corinthian capitals. A large cartouche rests on the arch supported by the columns. In it is a pastoral landscape in which stand a man wearing a long robe and a bare-breasted woman, joined around their neck by a long chain of pearls with a heart-shaped pendant. Enhancing the allusion of matrimonial harmony are family emblems of the bridal couple that appear next to each other in a cartouche above the central allegorical image. The emblem at the right, above the central allegorical image, depicting a rampant lion climbing a palm tree, is that of the groom's family, Caiatte, whereas the emblem at the left, portraying a rampant lion touching a white column, belongs to the family of the bride, De Castro. Finally, the influence of Italian culture is demonstrated in the cartouche at the bottom, with the depiction of Cupid lying next to his bow and quiver. (red)

In the 17th century, the Jewish community of Casale Monferrato had between 500 and 600 members. The widow Giuditta Leonora, daughter of Abraham Segre, and Moses, son of the deceased Isaak Katzighin, the bridal couple named in this marriage contract, both belonged to the wealthiest families of the community. The contract is surrounded by an ornamental frame. The inner oval frame, which contains six gilded rosettes, is decorated with flowers. Its corner segments each contain a large medallion depicting the four Aristotelian elements (air, water, fire and earth) and smaller medallions depicting, in a counterclockwise direction, the twelve Signs of the Zodiac. The outer frame contains gilt knot motifs as a symbol of the eternal “love knot”; the cartouches in the four corners depict allegories of the four seasons. In addition there are representations of the five senses. The tenth cartouche, at the top, intended for family crests, was never filled in. (flu)

The Karaite ketubah, unlike the traditional Rabbinite contract, is written entirely in Hebrew and invariably comprises of two parts: shetar nissu'in and shetar ketubah. The Karaite wedding recorded in this ketubah was celebrated in the important community of Qirq-Yer in the Crimean Peninsula (West Ukraine). The two sections of the text are set inside frames painted with gold and surrounded by flowers. In the tradition of many Sephardic, Italian, and Eastern ketubot, initial words are decorated and appropriate biblical passages are included in the inner frame. The dowry list in this ketubah is longer than the marriage deed text in the first section. In accordance with the Karaite custom, many respected witnesses (here 12) were invited to sign the contract. (red)

This marriage contract documents the agreements at the betrothal of two Samaritans, Temima, daughter of Isaac, son of ha-Levi Amram, and Abraham, son of Joseph Denufta (ha-Dinfi). Although Samaritans believe only in the Pentateuchand recognize only Moses as prophet, and although the Torah does not mandate that the rights of the wife be protected by a ketubah,the Samaritans adopted thisrabbinic custombased on Exodus 21:9 and 22:6, which mention a kind of dowry. The language of this document is Samaritan Hebrew, written in Samaritan script, reminiscent of ancient Hebrewscript.Reflecting a strict interpretation of the Second Commandment, the decoration of the ketubah is limited to floral and geometric designs in bright colors. (flu)

The Jewish community on the ‘British Rock of Gibraltar' reached its height in the 19th century. At the time this marriage contract (ketubbah) was produced, most of Gibraltar's retail trade was conducted by the local Sephardic community. By the second half of the 19th century, Gibraltar developed its own characteristic type of marriage contract decoration, with large pieces of parchment ornamented in bright colors. The present ketubbah, of which an identical but later copy is preserved at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (accession n. B72.1066 179/244H, see Sh. Sabar, Mazal Tov: Illuminated Jewish Marriage Contracts from the Israel Museum Collection, Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 1993), is framed on either side by garlands of flowers, a luxurious red bow at the bottom and surmounted by a crown, which is reminiscent of the Torah crown, however modeled here on the British royal crown. Three other typical motifs of these Gibraltar ketubbot are the initial word of the traditional Jewish wedding day in Gibraltar, Wednesday (ברביעי), enlarged in gold lettering; the sum of the dowry and increment is a factor of eighteen, a number that is also the propitious word ‘Ḥai' (חי) – ‘life', written here in monumental letters sticking out of the small cursive script and lastly, the ornamental monogram in Latin letters at bottom center, which is comprised here of E C B, referring to the bridal couple's first (Elido and Jimol) and last initials (Ben Atar/ Benatar). Elido (אלידו), son of Isaiah, son of the late Ḥaim, called Ben Atar (בן עתר) is marrying the bride Jimol (ג'ימול), daughter of Joseph, son of the late David, called Qazes (קאזיס), whose dowry is 600 Pesos Fuertes (פיזוס פואירטיס) worth of clothing, jewelry and bed linen and incremented by 600 Pesos Fuertes as a gift, to which is added a piece of land measuring 400 cubits and an additional 600 Pesos Fuertes; the total obligation is 1800 Pesos Fuertes. (iss)

The bridal couple mentioned in this marriage contract, Dona Sarah, daughter of Jacob Guttieres Pegna (Peña) and David, son of the late Benjamin Racah (or Raccah), both are members of wealthy families of the Sephardic community of Livorno. As is customary, the ketubah lists the dowry and increment: It consists of a house on the Piazza delle Erbe with a value of 907 piesas, 6 solidos and 10 dinaros da ocho reali di Spagna, plus 150 piesas in cash and an increment valued at half of the dowry. The unusually large ketubah is decorated with interlace design in the style of “love knots”, floral scrolls, a pair of birds and two winged putti supporting a blank cartouche intended for the family emblem. (flu)

This marriage contract between Abraham [Abramo], son of the late Jonathan Judah Finzi, and his bride Ricca, daughter of Gedaliah Senigaglia (Senigallia) names a dowry of 1,800 pezze da ocho reali – 1,200 of which in cash, 300 in gold jewelry, precious stones and pearls, and 300 in clothing and bed linen, and an  increment of 360 pezze. The text is in the lower section of the ketubah, inside a monumental double arch. The upper section depicts azure heavens with tiny gold stars. Seated on clouds is the allegory of Fama, who announces the “good name” of the groom with a fanfare. (flu)

As in other ketubot (cf. K69 and K96), here, too, an older frame was reused, one that had been created for a marriage contract 70-80 years earlier. 13 figurative scenes are arranged within an architectural arch; the theme is the biblical story of the wedding of Isaac and Rebecca. The original ketubah may have been created for a bridal couple with these names. The series of scenes begins in the upper right with the Sacrifice of Isaac and continues clockwise with more scenes. At the top Cupid links the two family emblems with a gold ribbon. A „crown of the good name“ tops the scene. (flu)

This ketubah was created in Essaouira by the artist David Nissim Elkaïm (see his initials in Latin letters at the lower left) documents the marriage between Solomon, son of Joshua, son of R. Abraham Makhluf ha-Levi Ben-Susan, and Freha, daughter of Makhluf, son of Masoud, son of Naphtali, grandson of Judah Afriat, both of whom were members of Sephardic families. Numerous characteristics refer to this heritage, such as the writing material (parchment), the status of women, the invocation of God to take revenge for the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, the European style of the decoration of the frame and the Latin monogram of the bride's name. (flu)

David, son of Daniel Coelho Enriques (or Henriques) and Dona Rachel, daughter of Abraham Enriques Da Costa, were members of a families of religious refugees from Spain and Portugal in the town of Bayonne in Southern France near the Atlantic coast. Like other Sephardic ketubot, their marriage contract does not contain depictions of human figures, which distinguishes them from ones from Italy or Amsterdam. The sharp contrast between dark ink and white parchment, the dots and the hatching give the impression of a copper engraving. The verses, written in elegant, square Sephardic script, contain praises of the bride and groom. (flu)

In this 1722 marriage contract between Yishai (Jesse) Hay, son of R. Samuel Pesach, and Berakha Tova, daughter of R. Isaiah Modena, the artist persuasively links decorative elements of Italian art with Jewish symbols and motifs. The decoration contains countless biblical quotations in micrographic script with reference to wedding and marriage ideals. (flu)

Like the 1753 ketubah from Padua (K76), this contract makes use of an older frame. The family emblems therefore have no relation to the bridal couple, Nathan Solomon, son of Jacob Samuel le-Veit Montel, and Bella Rosa, daughter of Moses le-Veit Barukh (De Benedetti). It is even possible that the original ketubah is not from Alessandria, but from further away, possibly Lugo or Ancona. The inner decorative frame contains a ribbon of cutout designs glued onto green fabric. The outer frame is painted; it is decorated with fanciful flowering twigs, medallions and vignettes. The side and bottom borders contain the Signs of the Zodiac. (flu)

The lavish decoration of this printed and hand-painted ketubah attests to the high esteem in which this art form was held by the wealthy Sephardim living in the Venice ghetto. The text in this document is divided in two sections, the ketubah proper at the right and the conditions at the left, set within a double arch. The side columns feature additional wedding scenes inspired by Jewish texts. The association between the ideals of marriage from the past with Jewish life in contemporary Italy is further illustrated in the six vignettes that surround the central area containing the emblem of the bridegroom's family, De Almeda. The frame enclosing the text is dominated by painted Signs of the Zodiac interspersed with plaques containing a wedding poem by the Italian poet and kabbalist, Rabbi Mordecai Dato (1525?-1593?). At the four corners are elaborate geometric designs inscribed with miniscule square writing, which, together with the inscriptions along the frame, present the entire book of the Song of Songs. This border was so admired that it was later imitated throughout the Veneto. (red)

The marriage of Joshua, son of Isaac Hayyim Recanati, and Dona Esther Sarah, daughter of Raphael Recanati, established a union within this widely ramified, wealthy and influential Sephardic family. Written on a document that is painted with illusionistic effect, the actual text of the ketubbah is in the right column and the conditions are in the left column. These are surrounded by rococo architecture in central perspective, with the family emblem at the top flanked by two cupids. The name of the groom is honored with a medallion that depicts Joshua commanding the sun to stand still (Joshua 10:12–13). Two female figures hold the ends of a gold ribbon with the inscription “Be fruitful and multiply!” (flu)

This ketubbah for the bridal couple Joseph Baruch, son of R. Schabettai Moses Salman and Rachel, daughter of R. Jom Tov Sanguinetti, is evidence of the Piedmontese communities' high achievements in the field of Jewish art. The designs are executed in green and gold. In the central part, a massive triumphal arch supported by twin columns frames the text of the contract. Two trumpet-blowing putti on mobile supports, the twelve signs of the zodiac, and the depictions of birds in the ornamental field at the top were cut from copper engravings, glued onto the ketubbah and then enhanced with a bit of color. The architrave of the triumphal arch holds a silhouette of the rebuilt Jerusalem, formed entirely from micrographic script. (flu)