Picture for the Shavuot festival (at Spanish Synagogue) This
religious picture was created for the merchant Benjamin
Trietsch, who is mentioned in the dedication at the bottom of
the sheet. He may have presented it to the Prague Zigeuner
synagogue, to which, together with his wife, Heyla, he donated a
Torah mantle (inv. no. JMP 82.851) in 1724-25. At first sight,
the viewer’s eye is caught by the large golden letters of the
Decalogue. In the 18th century, tablets with the Decalogue,
representing Divine Law and all its commandments, appear as a
symbol on synagogue walls or facades and on various ritual
objects: curtains and valances for the Holy Ark, Torah mantles
and shields, and others. The Decalogue is framed by a double
arcade, the shape of which is also reminiscent of the two
tablets of the Law, as they are usually depicted. The three
crowns are the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood and the
crown of the kingship, which are named in the Mishnaic tractate
of Pirke Avot (4 : 17). But there is more. If