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Lion Rampant
Samuel Katz (Born in Vyshnivets, Poland (now Western Ukraine), 1884-1953)
1922/3
Object Place: Boston, Massachusetts
Medium/Technique
Carved wood with gold paint
Dimensions
22.86 x 83.82 x 45.72 cm (9 x 33 x 18 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Maxim Karolik
Accession Number60.488
ClassificationsSculpture
DescriptionThis wooden lion was one of a pair holding the Tablets of the Law on top of the Torah ark carved for the Anshei Poland synagogue in Boston’s South End. It tells the story of Jewish woodcarvers from Eastern and Central Europe, and the way they transferred their skills to synagogues furniture and carousels' animals when they immigrated to America.
The lion and the entire Anshei Poland ark was the work of Sam Katz, a prolific woodcarver from Galicia (now eastern Poland/Western Ukraine), known to have made about 24 Torah arks for synagogues in and around Boston. Five are known to survive today: Walnut Street synagogue, Chelsea; Chestnut Street, Chelsea, now Iglesia de Dios church (once ‘Linas Hazedek Beith Israel’, or Carpenters’ Shul); Adam Street synagogue in Newton; Woodrow Avenue in Dorchester, now Temple Salem Seventh Day Adventist Church (formerly Agudat Israel Anshei Sfarad); Chabad of North Shore, Swampscott (once in Lynn).
In 1957 the Anshei Poland congregation sold the synagogue building to the Boston Housing Authority, which tore it down to make way for new developments. Shortly after, folk art collector and MFA patron Maxim Karolik, a Russian Jewish immigrant, bought the Lion and donated it to the museum.
The lion and the entire Anshei Poland ark was the work of Sam Katz, a prolific woodcarver from Galicia (now eastern Poland/Western Ukraine), known to have made about 24 Torah arks for synagogues in and around Boston. Five are known to survive today: Walnut Street synagogue, Chelsea; Chestnut Street, Chelsea, now Iglesia de Dios church (once ‘Linas Hazedek Beith Israel’, or Carpenters’ Shul); Adam Street synagogue in Newton; Woodrow Avenue in Dorchester, now Temple Salem Seventh Day Adventist Church (formerly Agudat Israel Anshei Sfarad); Chabad of North Shore, Swampscott (once in Lynn).
In 1957 the Anshei Poland congregation sold the synagogue building to the Boston Housing Authority, which tore it down to make way for new developments. Shortly after, folk art collector and MFA patron Maxim Karolik, a Russian Jewish immigrant, bought the Lion and donated it to the museum.
ProvenanceFrom the Synagogue Congregation Anshai Poland (19-23 Oswego Street near 330 Harrison Ave., Boston, Mass.); to Henry Gray, The Crossroads Antiques (112 Castle Street, Boston 18, Mass.); to Maxim Karolik; gift to the MFA in 1960.