The Zadok Workshop

While strolling through the antiquities market in Tel Aviv, I encountered a silver Judaica item bearing the mark ZADOK. Wondering, I started to gather information regarding this mark.

The notable silversmith Avraham Zadok and his family immigrated to Israel in 1949 from Sana'a, Yemen, and a year later established a jewelry and silversmith workshop in Jerusalem. During the 1960s, the Zadok family opened a store near the King David Hotel in Jerusalem and began to engage in Judaica, successfully adapting to the field of goldsmithing in Israel.

Filigree, more than any other technique identified with Yemenite jewelry, combined both structural elements and decorative elements. The Zadok family artistic handicraft emphasized on filigree decorations and was also influenced from the "Bezalel Courtyard" jewelry. Moreover, the artistry of the Zadok family in the field of Judaica reflected a cultural statement that emphasized the unique combination of Torah and art, a combination that was the basis of Jewish goldsmithing in Yemen.

(More information about the Zadok family and other Jewish-Yemenite goldsmiths, can be found in Yael Guilat's fascinating article "Yemenite jewelers in Israel: the story of the life and craft of the independent craftsmen in Eretz Israel and in the early years of the State of Israel").