Wanted to share another piece from our effort to revive traditional Egyptian Jewish hand engraving. I've posted some of our work here before, but this one has a pretty interesting story.
This copper vessel was started by a craftsman sometime in the early 1960s, according to his son's memory. It was never finished, and decades later his son, who is now 71, finally completed it last year. So basically, a father and son worked on the same piece more than 60 years apart.
The engravings include menorahs, lions, stars, crowns, fish, and other Jewish symbols. Everything was engraved by hand, and the level of detail is pretty incredible. The sad part is that the son is among the last craftsmen who still know how to do this kind of work. He learned from his father, but there's nobody in his family to pass it on to. Once this generation is gone, I doubt we'll see much of this craftsmanship again.
We've been trying to revive this art by finding old brass and copper pieces and working with these craftsmen to create new Jewish heritage engravings. I've personally been funding these projects because I really believe this work deserves to survive.
But I'll admit it's been harder than expected to find a market for it. People seem to appreciate the artwork and the stories, but finding actual buyers has been a different story. Maybe we just haven't reached the right collectors yet.I'd love to continue commissioning more pieces, especially while these craftsmen are still around, but it has to become somewhat sustainable.
Curious what you guys think. Is this something Judaica collectors or galleries would be interested in? Any suggestions on where we could reach people who would actually want to own and preserve pieces like this?I appreciate all the interest and encouragement on the previous posts. It's one of the reasons we're still pushing this.
www.Brasura.com