Marquetry Wooden Tefillin Box from Damascus

This box is intended to store and transport tefillin (phylacteries) between services, protecting them from wear and impurity. A personal object carried daily, it could be crafted with great care. In Damascus, a major center of woodworking, these boxes were adorned with marquetry: geometric inlays of mother-of-pearl, bone, and precious woods in the Damascene technique, shared by artisans of the various communities of the city. The decoration, composed of stars and interlacing patterns, belongs to an Islamic ornamental repertoire adapted to an object of Jewish devotion, illustrating the integration of Jews into Syrian material culture.