Four Large Silver Bells for a Torah Ark Curtain – Ner Tamid Burial Society – Prague, 1825

Four silver bells for a Torah ark curtain. Ner Tamid holy burial society, Prague, 1825.
Silver (marked; Prague, TH – presumably Thomas Hopfel), pierced, repoussé and engraved.
Four large silver bells. Each bell is attached with a small ring to a hook, with the front part shaped as a heraldic shield.
Two of the shields are blank and two are inscribed, presumably with the donor's name: "R. Leib Dietrich, gabbai"; "...Ner Tamid burial society."
The custom of hanging bells on the curtain covering the Torah ark was prevalent in Jewish communities in Bohemia and Moravia, and several similar exemplars are found in the Jewish museum of Prague.
The Index of Jewish Art documents several Judaica items made by Thomas Hopfel, including a similar set of bells, made in Prague in 1840, as well as Torah shields, bearing shield-shaped pendants reminiscent of the shields decorating the present bells.
See: The Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art, Center of Jewish Art (CJA), item 4472 (from the collection of the Jewish Museum in Prague, 1840); item 36853 (from the Gross family collection).
Height of bells: 7.5-8 cm; total height (including hooks): 13-14 cm.