Museum of Fine Arts Boston

A Mystery

by Lucy Opalka

    

        Each art piece has a history. And in the American section of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, I happened upon some regal history. In the American art gallery, there are two Torah scroll holders, called finials, in the center of a room.  

            Finials are used to hold the Torah, which is the Jewish Scripture in the form of a scroll. They are shaped to be fruit-like, and are also called rimmon, or pomegranate. Most have bells on them, which is significant because they sound whenever the Torah is moved. Finials have been around since the Twelfth Century, but the most recent design with motifs only came about in the Fifteenth Century, and popularized in the Eighteenth.  

            What struck me the most was how cared for these pieces were. They are in a museum, so obviously they would be polished and cleaned before being put on display, but these were flawless. They had the type of perfection that could only be achieved by careful cleaning every day. They appeared to glow and light up the room.

            The finials were thought-provoking. Something cherished so much by the community must have been hard to give up to a museum. And most metal objects as old as the finials would not survive unscathed. The museum estimates that they were in use around 1760.

            Older art is fascinating because each piece has a history. Pieces are supposed to leave you questioning, wanting to know more. And these finials do exactly that. They leave you wondering about the events these objects have lived through, what disasters they have seen.

            The MFA picks wonderful artifacts to show, and I would love to spend weeks in the museum, exploring the artwork.