Illuminated “Mizrach” plaque. [Southern Germany, 18th century].

Ink and paint on paper.

“Mizrach” plaque, inscribed and illuminated, on a rectangular sheet of paper. Divided into nine frames: a middle frame, containing the Hebrew word “Mizrach” [“East”], encircled by eight frames bearing folk art illustrations, labeled in Hebrew, depicting Jewish holidays and customs, and featuring figures in contemporary costume (clockwise: “Sukkot” [showing a sukkah and the taking of the “lulav”]; “… Yom Kippur” [lashes – a Jew ‘flogging’ a fellow Jew lying prostrate on the ground]; “Pesach” [a family of three seated at the seder table]; “Shavu’ot” [a Jewish man raising an open Torah scroll in the synagogue]; “Rosh HaShanah” [two Jewish men, dressed in white, in the synagogue, with one blowing the shofar and the other reading from a book, presumably a “machzor”]; “… Yom Kippur” [the “kapparot” ritual, involving a slaughtered rooster]; “Hanukkah” [a Jewish man lighting one of the candles in a large, erect Hanukkah lamp in the synagogue]; “Purim” [a man reading the Esther scroll at the table in the synagogue, while a child stands under the table (waving a Purim gregger or rattler?)]).

A similar plaque, formerly part of the collection of Heinrich Feuchtwanger (acquired in Ansbach, Germany) is kept today in the collection of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (Item No. HF107, 169/25); see: Isaiah Shachar, “Jewish Tradition in Art: The Feuchtwanger Collection of Judaica”, exhibition catalogue, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1981, Item No. 107 (also documented by Theodor Harburger [P160-1002]).

Height: 20.5 cm. Width: 29 cm. Fair-good condition. Creases, stains (mostly to edges), fold lines and minor tears, with slight damage to illustrations, professionally mended. Minor abrasions and faded color. Matted; mounted on acid-free paper.