Obj. ID: 38575
Sacred and Ritual Objects  Passover plate, Germany, 1800

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

Pesach plates were fairly often made in central Europe, primarily Germany and the Czech lands. Usually old plates were purchased in the marketplace and then given to a Jewish engraver to write the inscription and add the decoration.  Most often this was not sophisticated artwork, but the work often had a great deal of charm.  This example contains inscriptions around the rim and a central medallion with three figures, one of which is holding a piece of matzah.  Additionally there are architectural depictions, vegetal and floral patterns and several animals, including a lion, a deer, a unicorn, a squirrel, a bird and what may be a fox. One of the figures in the central medallion holds what appears to be a dog on a leash. The variety of these animals is not typical of Germany and is most reminiscent of Galicia, but such plates were not done in that area. As with another known plate, which specifically states the place as Germany but mentions the artist as from lvov (in Galicia), this plate too was probably done by a Jewish immigrant from Galicia to Germany. There were a fair number of such immigrants from the 17th through the 20th centuries, initially promted by the Chmelnitsky murders in the middle of the 17th century and the subsequent disastrus decades in Galicia.       

Inscription:  Amar Rabi Shimon bar Gamliel...