Sephardic Tik in Wood and Silver from the Maghreb

The tik is a rigid case, usually cylindrical or polygonal, which encloses the Torah scroll and keeps it upright during reading, the officiant reading the text with the scroll standing and open in its case. This practice is specific to Eastern and Sephardic rites, as opposed to the laying and undressed scroll of the Ashkenazi rite. In the Maghreb, these cases are made of assembled wood, opened by a hinge, and plated or enhanced with repoussé and engraved silver, sometimes with precious wood; they are crowned with rimonim and a crown. Their manufacture combines the work of the carpenter and the goldsmith, in forms that extend a long Mediterranean tradition of Torah cases.