By Shelley Anderson, friend and long-time volunteer at the TRC (27 May 2024)
A recent visit to the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam made me think about velvet, and especially the gorgeous velvet pieces in the TRC collection, and the TRC online exhibition: Velvet!. And please note, there are still some places left for the TRC study day on velvet, on Friday 31st of May. If you are interested, let us know asap.
Portuguese Synagogue, Amsterdam (1675). Photograph by Massimo Catarinella. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
The Portuguese Synagogue, finished in 1675, has its own collection of silk and velvet textiles. It also has a mystery. The synagogue was built on what was then the outskirts of Amsterdam. It was the largest synagogue in the world at the time, and one of the city’s largest buildings, and still in use today as a synagogue, its wooden pews and floor are original. The gleaming woodwork and shining brass chandeliers (lighting comes from candles—there’s no electricity or heating in the building) are beautiful. No expense was spared in creating this sacred space.
Painting by Emanuel de Witte, c. 1680, of the interior of the Portuguese Synagogue, Amsterdam (Courtesy Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, SK-A-3738).
Nor in decorating it, as you can see in the underground rooms across the small courtyard. This is the Treasury, where, in a specially built, climate controlled room, you can see the Synagogue’s collection of 600 stunning textiles, behind glass. Many of the expensive, beautifully embroidered textiles are still used during religious services. There are several cloth coverings, called mantels, which are used to cover and protect the large Torah scrolls.
Some examples of wall hangings from the Portuguese Synagogue. Photograph: Shelley AndersonThe decorated mantels are open at the bottom, and sometimes at the back, to slip over the Torah scrolls. There are two holes on the top of the mantel so the scroll’s staves can protrude. Mantels are several metres long, usually made from fine velvet or silk, or an expensive brocade, with stunning gold and/or silver thread embroidery depicting a crown, or pomegranates, or the coat of arms of the family who donated the mantel to the synagogue. Mantels can also be decorated with gold tassels and beads.
There are hundreds of cloth strips in the collection, too. These are called ‘faixa’, or Torah binders. These long, narrow bands of cloth are used to tie the scrolls together. Many of these faixa show signs of previous use, as it was a custom for wealthier women to offer their used dresses to the synagogue, to be turned into faixa. (There are also examples of wealthy men donating old coats for this).
This way of reusing luxury fabrics such as silk or velvet was not limited to Dutch Jewish communities, as wealthy Roman Catholic women also offered their dresses to churches, to be made into ecclesiastical garments. The fabrics were expensive and carefully made—one early 18th century faixa was found to be made from 37 pieces of silk.
Another faixa was also silk, and was produced in either the Netherlands or in England from between 1719-1723. A third faixa with an elaborate floral motif worked on velvet is thought to have been embroidered in South India around 1625. Textiles, as we know, can travel.
Piece of leather wall paper, decorated with silver leaf, gold varnish and paint, Europe, 18th century (TRC 2011.0459).Not all of these binders were of silk. There are examples in the collection of faixa made from cotton or unbleached linen, including one from 1606, which is decorated with ornamental letters, animals and a floral motif.
The Portuguese Synagogue is home not only to ceremonial textiles, but also to wall hangings and furniture upholstery. The only known examples from the atelier of tapestry merchants Samuel and Mathieu Dessarteaux, of Aubusson, are two sofas. The Synagogue has both sofas, made in 1741 and upholstered in rich silk.
There are also remains of a gilt leather wall hanging (wall paper) inside the Synagogue itself. This is one of the few 17th century examples of this type of wall covering, and the only one in its original setting, in the Netherlands. Records show it cost a whooping 448 guilders, and had been ordered from Antwerp, not Amsterdam, where four gilt leather factories were operating. The gilt leather wall covering was used to decorate the inside of the large wooden cabinet that houses the Torah scrolls, where it is protected from light.
QR code for the hidden wallpaper discovered inside the Synagogue. Photo: Shelley AndersonIt was in two hidden compartments in this same cabinet, during renovations in 2022, that a mystery was found. Buried under a thick layer of dust, some fine 18th century linen wallpaper had been secreted away. Why hide wallpaper? Historical specialists were immediately called in and are still searching for answers.
More information about the Portuguese Synagogue and the Treasury, and the hours they are open to the public, can be found at www.esnoga.com or https://jck.nl/en/location/portuguese-synagogue.
See also: The Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, edited by Pieter Vlaardingerbroek, 2013, Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, Office of Monuments and Archaeology, Amsterdam.
