Torah Ark curtains from Italy, ca. 17th - 18th century
The art of weaving has always played a crucial role in the decoration of houses, palazzi and places of worship in the Italian Jewish world. Italy's diverse Jewish communities, in osmosis with the society around them with which they interacted, ended up taking on board local and foreign artistic expressions and styles. Textiles from Livorno, Pisa, Genoa and Venice, for example, clearly reveal the influence of the Middle East, with which Italy's Jews came into contact through family or trading ties – unlike the textiles of Rome, Florence or Turin, which tend to reflect a certain proximity with the tastes of Italy's royalty. Fully-fledged "needlework paintings" that glittered in the flickering light of candles and torches in a triumph of coloured silks and of gold and silver thread, these pieces were mostly produced by the skilled hands of women who, though shut away inside the home, displayed astonishing creativity and vast knowledge.
