Cylindrical, off-white glazed ceramic stein with a bas-relief design with red-brown and gray coloring, curved handle with geometric decoration, lid with pewter rim, flat ceramic disc inlay, pewter thumblift and pewter mountings.

Auction 90 | Tuesday, July 21st, 2020 at 1:00pm
Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts, Graphic & Ceremonial Arts

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Lot 23
ANTISEMITIC CERAMIC GERMAN BEER-STEIN.
Cylindrical, off-white glazed ceramic stein with a bas-relief design with red-brown and gray coloring, curved handle with geometric decoration, lid with pewter rim, flat ceramic disc inlay, pewter thumblift and pewter mountings.

c. 1890

Est: $4,000 - $5,000
The inlay relief has a German text circling the top border and depicts a Jewish man in left profile with a grim expression and a large hooked nose marching on barren, uneven ground. He has a walking stick in his right hand and carries his belongings in a sack tied to a stick held over his left shoulder. Marked around top edge : DER JTZIG NIMMT DEN STAB ZUR HAND UND RAISET INS GELOBTELAND [“The Jew takes the rod to the hand and into the promised land.”] The stein has a red-brown glaze body with three scenes depicting Jews being expelled from Germany under the banner: Weiche Satan [“Get thee hence Satan.”] Also features a winged figure (representing Germania) standing on a book entitled "TALMUD" and encircled by a serpent. Height: 9 inches (23 cm), width: 4.5 inches (11.5 cm). Depth: 5 inches (14 cm). An unknown anti-Semitic German beer-stein with scenes on the body <<entirely different from others of this genre.>> Steins with anti-Jewish images were popular in late 19th century Germany. The constitution of the newly unified Germany, adopted in 1871, emancipated all Jews, yet subsequent decades saw a surge in widespread anti-Semitism, which soon became a popular cause of several German political parties. For a similar example of this beer-stein found in the Ehrenthal/Katz Collection, and housed in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, see: https://collections.ushmmorg/search/catalog/irn545039.