Spice Container
Artist Unknown
ca. 1550
Image
This ritual spice container is thought to have been made in Frankfurt am Main. It is decorated to represent a four-story tower with brick walls. At its top, two short spires flank a central, taller spire etched with delicate patterns and adorned with small windows. A balcony sits below with an ornately decorated railing. On its second level, a large central window is decorated as a floral petal. The third story is further embellished with a grid of windows followed by a heavy-set door at its base. Tower shapes became the most popular style for spice boxes in Europe beginning in the sixteenth century.
This ritual spice container is thought to have been made in Frankfurt am Main. It is decorated to represent a four-story tower with brick walls. At its top, two short spires flank a central, taller spire etched with delicate patterns and adorned with small windows. A balcony sits below with an ornately decorated railing. On its second level, a large central window is decorated as a floral petal. The third story is further embellished with a grid of windows followed by a heavy-set door at its base. Tower shapes became the most popular style for spice boxes in Europe beginning in the sixteenth century.
Credits
Spice Container. Jewish Cultural Reconstruction / The Jewish Museum, New York.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.
You may also like
Jews and Ottomans Defending the City of Buda
From May through August 1541, the forces of the Ottoman Empire laid siege to the city of Buda (present day Budapest, Hungary) and captured it, ushering in 150 years of Ottoman rule. This illustration…
Synagogue, Bechhofen, Germany
The Bechhofen Synagogue (built in 1685) is believed to have been the largest wooden synagogue in Germany. The interior of the synagogue was painted with lavish decorations in 1732 and 1733, in typical…
Chendamangalam Synagogue, Cochin, India
Built in the early fifteenth century and rebuilt in 1614 following a fire, the Chendamangalam Synagogue served members of the Malabari Jewish community, descendants of Cochin’s earliest Jews, who are…
You may also like
Jews and Ottomans Defending the City of Buda
From May through August 1541, the forces of the Ottoman Empire laid siege to the city of Buda (present day Budapest, Hungary) and captured it, ushering in 150 years of Ottoman rule. This illustration…
Synagogue, Bechhofen, Germany
The Bechhofen Synagogue (built in 1685) is believed to have been the largest wooden synagogue in Germany. The interior of the synagogue was painted with lavish decorations in 1732 and 1733, in typical…
Chendamangalam Synagogue, Cochin, India
Built in the early fifteenth century and rebuilt in 1614 following a fire, the Chendamangalam Synagogue served members of the Malabari Jewish community, descendants of Cochin’s earliest Jews, who are…