Obj. ID: 39170
Sacred and Ritual Objects  Besomim, Brno (Brünn), 1840

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

In Jewish tradition the end of the Sabbath and other Jewish Holidays is marked by the ceremony of Havdalah (Separation) that differentiates between the Holy nature of the holdiay and the profane nature of the following day. This ritual is accomplished by lighting a special candle with several wicks, drinking wine from a cup and the inhalation of the sweet smell of spices. In the Ashkenazi world these spices were usually held in a container which was often shaped in varying forms.

There exist a number of spice towers of in different sizes and forms with the silver mark of this maker. That such a large number of towers would exist from the city of Brno, in which there was not a large Jewish population and which was not the center of an area of extensive Jewish settlement, is surprising. The silver mark, a monogram of "JR", recently discovered to be the initials of a Brno silversmith, Johann Rada. According to the dates on such towers, he apparently worked from the 1840's to the 1860's. Almost identical form towers were later produced by an unidentified maker whose mark, "EE", is found on numerous spice towers. It is likely that this "EE" apprenticed with Rada and later continued in his footsteps. There is another tower by this same maker in the Gross family collection, 015.001.007.

Inscription: B'A'Y'A'M'H' Borei Minei Besomim