Antisemitic beer stein. [Product of Dümler und Breide, Germany, Höhr-Grenzhausen (Westerwald), ca. late 19th century].
Ceramic half-liter beer mug or "stein, " with a lid and handle ("Deckelhumpen"); colored glaze. Lid secured with circular pewter frame with small pewter handle for opening and closing.
The reliefs on the mug – representing pictorial antisemitic tropes – depict the expulsion of Jews from Germany and the establishment of a Jewish kingdom, worshiping riches and gold, in the Land of Israel.
Two pictures appear in the bottom part of the stein. One of them shows a procession of Jews carrying off bags of money while being expelled by a German holding a broom in his hand. In the second picture, the Jews are shown arriving on board a ship at the shores of their new land, where they dance around the Golden Calf and are welcomed in the tent of the money changer "Aron Gojimschächter" ("Aaron Gentile-Butcher"). The Jews, their dogs, the Golden Calf, even the land itself – all have hooked noses. In the upper part of the mug are five medallions with depictions of Jewish figures: "Mammon" (representing the Lord of the Jews, after a verse from the New Testament, "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon" [Matthew 6:24]), Nathan Gneyst, Cohn Schwindler, and Levy Beschores. All have hooked noses, and some wear crowns. Between these figures is a depiction of the Great Temple and the captions (in German) "Long live the Kosher Nation" and "Judah above the entire world."
A large medallion on top of the lid shows a Jew with a walking stick, carrying a bag of money, encircled by the caption "Der Jtzig nimmt den Stab zur Hand und raiset ins Gelobte Land" ["The Jew takes the staff in hand and travels to the Promised Land"].

Height: 22 cm. Diameter at base: 10 cm. Good condition. Minor stains and blemishes. Few scratches and small cracks. Glaze somewhat faded in few spots.

Architectural Hanukkah lamp. [Italy, 17th century].
Brass, cast and pierced; rivets.
Hanukkah lamp representing an early and uncommon architectural type. Back plate designed in form of a fence consisting of eight stylized columns and a slender rail. With two additional end-columns differing one from the other in size and shape, with the left-end column wider than the right; each end-column bears two apertures through which the two side panels are attached. The side panels are each shaped as the top of a tower with crenellations facing forward (unlike other architectural Hanukkah lamps in which the crenellations point upwards). At the center of the back panel is a tall tower surmounted by three crenellations. The tower is architecturally reminiscent of both Florence's Palazzo Vecchio and Siena's Palazzo Pubblico. The lamp's servant light, projecting forward, is attached just below the top of the tower. The row of rounded oil fonts, with pinched, pointed spouts for the wicks, is attached to the bottom of the back plate.
This early Hanukkah lamp belongs to a group of Italian lamps, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, with architectural back plates usually modeled after city walls, palaces, and other monumental Baroque-style Italian Renaissance structures. This type of back plate, generally oriented widthwise, replaced the triangular back plate that characterized earlier Hanukkah lamps (mostly from Spain and Italy, but from other countries as well), which were inspired by the Gothic art of the Middle Ages.
A Hanukkah lamp similar to the one here is documented by Mordechai Narkiss in his book "The Hanukkah Lamp" (item no. 44, see below), but it has an additional panel above the fence, and lacks side panels. Another related Hanukkah lamp, belonging to the Judah L. Magnes Museum collection, Berkeley (item no. 67.1.4.13, see below; previously of the Strauss Collection), also lacks side panels, and lacks the tower-shaped structure at center and the servant light. In the Magnes Museum's catalogue of Hanukkah lamps, it is noted that this lamp may be only a fragment of a taller lamp, in which the servant light was attached at the top, similar to the lamp mentioned above, cited by Narkiss (no. 44). Considering the existing variants of this type of lamp and the particular characteristics of the present lamp, it is quite possible that in the case of the present specimen, the servant light and side panels were added at a later time. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the present lamp was intended to be hung on a wall, and its side panels were never meant to serve as a base for support (a feature which only developed later), a fact which strengthens the connection between this lamp and Italian Hanukkah lamps of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Height: 18.5 cm. Width: 26 cm. Depth: 6 cm. Overall good condition. Minor blemishes. Fracture to back plate. Old repair with tin to row of oil fonts.

For comparison and additional information, see: Mordechai Narkiss, The Hanukkah Lamp, Jerusalem, 1939 (Hebrew with English summary), item nos. 44-47; Hanukkah Lamps of the Judah L. Magnes Museum, Berkeley, California, 1977, item nos. MC 7, MC 8; Chaya Benjamin, The Stieglitz Collection: Masterpieces of Jewish Art, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1987 (Hebrew and English), item nos. 127-129; The Center for Jewish Art, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, item no. 4963; The V&A Museum, South Kensington, London, item no. M.415-1956.
Provenance: Collection of Raffaello Levi (1885-1971), Venice.

Amulet case. [Italy, 19th century].
Silver (unmarked), filigree; gilt.
Amulet case made from gilt silver threads (filigree) giving it a light, airy quality. Shaped as an elongated rectangular box, with a hinged lid. The Holy Name Shid Dalet Yud is inscribed on the front and back of the case. Suspension ring at the top of the lid.
Since amulet cases often had Holy Names or kabbalistic letter combinations engraved or soldered on the front or on both sides, over the years they began serving as amulets on their own, even when not containing a parchment manuscript.

Height: 6 cm, width: 3 cm, depth: 0.8 cm. Good condition. Lid soldered. Lacking several pieces of filigree.

Decorated Esther scroll, including the blessings over the Megillah reading recited prior to and following the traditional reading of the scroll on Purim. Housed in a decorated silver case created by the silversmith Angelo Giannotti, Rome. Scroll: [ca. 1800]. Silver case: [first half of 19th century].
Ink and paint on parchment; silver (marked in several places with city mark and maker's mark), cast, turned, pierced and engraved; gilt.
Esther scroll; inscribed in Sephardic-Italian script on four parchment membranes. Text of Book of Esther inscribed in 46 columns, averaging 13 rows per column. Just before the main body of text is a single column inscribed with the blessings over the megillah reading. Following the main body are additional five columns inscribed with the blessing recited after the Megillah reading, followed by the liturgical poem "Korei Megillah" by Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra. The first column is left blank. The text is enclosed within decorative greenish-golden rectangular frames. Similarly colored in greenish gold are the letters of the word "Barukh" ("Blessed") at the beginning and end of the scroll, as well as the letters of the opening words to each of the verses of "Korei Megillah".
The scroll is housed within a cylindrical silver case whose surface is decorated with vegetal patterns; toward the top and bottom, the cylinder in encircled by slender, elegant decorative bands. The case is surmounted by a serrated crown with a dome-like ornament at its center. This is in turn surmounted by an additional, smaller crown with more numerous serrations and with a similar dome at its center. An elegant ornament in the shape of a rampant lion grasping a palm frond, made of cast and gilt silver, surmounts the center of the upper crown. This ornament is most probably meant to represent the emblem of Rome's Di Castro family; it also appears on an embroidered textile (mappa) donated in 1699 to Rome's Scola Nuova synagogue, as well as on the family's ketubot (marriage contracts), on an additional Esther scroll (in the Israel Museum Collection); and on several spice containers from Rome dating from the 18th and 19th centuries.
The silversmith Angelo Giannotti was active in Rome circa 1815-65. He created a variety of silver articles, including many candlesticks, hanging lamps, a goblet, and other items. Among his works are a small number of Judaica items, including a silver binding dated circa 1840 (see Sotheby's, December 13, 2006, item no. 81) and a spice container (see "Arte ebraica a Roma e nel Lazio", p. 104, item no. 82) with the emblem of the Di Castro family at the top. The present Esther scroll is therefore part of a very short list of Judaica items created by this silversmith, and, to the best of our knowledge, is the only extant Esther scroll case produced by him.
For Esther scrolls similar in design to this one – some of them dated to the 18th century – see the Center for Jewish Art (CJA), item no. 34639 (Collection of Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme [mahJ], Paris); The Israel Museum Collection, item no. B39.11.6484; the René Braginsky Collection (formerly in the Furman Collection), scroll no. 94. Interestingly, unlike the three Esther scrolls mentioned above which are housed in polygonal silver cases, the present scroll is housed in a cylindrical silver case, a fact which sets it apart from other known Italian silver Esther scroll cases from that period. On spice containers from Rome surmounted by the emblematic ornament of a rampant lion grasping a palm frond, see: Sotheby's, June 5, 2019, item no. 123; Sotheby's, December 15, 2022, item no. 109; The Israel Museum Collection (appears on an Israeli postage stamp dated 1990 and titled [Hebrew] "Mo'adim 5755"). See also enclosed material.

Height of silver case (including handle and surmounting ornament): 27 cm. Overall good condition. Possibly missing a tiny handle originally part of the silver piece sewn onto the first membrane. Height of parchment: 8 cm. Good condition. Some stains to scroll, occasional spots of faded ink in text and faded paint in decorative rectangular frames.

Reference:
1. Daniela Di Castro and Filomena Del Regno, Arte ebraica a Roma e nel Lazio, Palombi, Rome, 1994, p. 104 (item no. 82), p. 154.
2. Jacobo Furman, Treasures of Jewish art: From the Jacobo and Asea Furman Collection of Judaica, Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, New York, 1997, pp. 210-11.
3. Doretta Davanzo Poli, Olga Melasecchi, and Amedeo Spagnoletto, eds., Antiche mappòt romane, il prezioso archivio tessile del Museo Ebraico di Roma, Campisano Editore, Rome, 2017, item no. 60.
Provenance: Private collection.