High-Quality Spicebox Shaped as a Belltower with a Clock – Bohemia or Moravia, 18th Century

High-Quality Spicebox Shaped as a Belltower with a Clock – Bohemia or Moravia, 18th Century

"Havdalah" Spicebox. Apparently, Bohemia or Moravia (possibly Brno or Prague), [second half of 18th century].

Silver, repoussé, pierced, sawed, and engraved (unmarked except for tax mark from Vienna, in use from 1806 onward); parcel gilt.

Elegant "Havdalah" spicebox, in the form of a belltower surmounted by a pair of onion-shaped domes and bearing a clock equipped with a single rotating hand. This particular model of spicebox was in widespread use across Bohemia and Moravia, and similar spiceboxes were known to have been produced in the cities of Prague and Brno.

The splendid, meticulously crafted spicebox bears an architectonic design which includes two bell chambers, and a square spice container surmounted by a tall steeple featuring a pair of onion-shaped domes. At the base of the steeple is a clock with one rotating hand. Above the two onion-shaped domes is a spherical ornament at the base of a fancy flag, whose mast is surmounted by an additional, flower-shaped ornament. The spice container is perforated (pierced) with apertures and openings to enable sniffing the spice inside. It is decorated with vegetal patterns and bordered with small brick-shaped rectangles. The onion-shaped domes are similarly decorated with a pattern of brick-shaped rectangles. A prominent, relief ornament in repoussé in the form of a domed structure appears on all four sides of the spice container. On the front side of the container, this ornament is equipped with a tiny hinged door with a locking mechanism. Extending from each of the four corners of the container are spiraling silver columns surmounted by small flags with flower-like ornaments on top. The container is supported by an ornament in the form of a pitcher with four handles, screwed into the broad, square base, itself adorned with vegetal patterns. Hebrew letters are engraved onto each of the four cartouches adorning the base; these are apparently the letters "yud", "bet", "nun", and "heh", each of them representing, in sequential order, the first letter of the subject of each of the four blessings that make up the Havdalah ritual: "yud" for "yayin" (wine), "bet" for "besamim" (spices), "nun" for "ner" (candle), and "heh" for "havdalah" (separation).

Height: 31 cm. Width at base: 9.5X9.5 cm. Overall good condition. Minor warping to spice container and other parts. Connections between spiraling columns and spice container slightly loose.

For comparison, see: the Jewish Museum in Prague, item nos. 012.228, 027.795; Chaya Benjamin and Marilyn Gold Koolik, eds. and curators, "Towers of Spices: The Tower-Shape Tradition in Havdalah Spiceboxes, " exhibition catalogue, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel, 1982 (Hebrew and English), pp. 20-23 (in Hebrew edition).

Provenance:

1. Oscar and Regina Gruss Collection, New York.

2. Heirs of the above.

The Oscar and Regina Gruss Collection

In 1939, Oscar and Regina Gruss fled their hometown of Lvov (then part of Poland, now in Ukraine), narrowly escaping the Holocaust, and eventually settling in the United States. In the years following the war, they devoted themselves to assembling one of the finest collections of Jewish ceremonial art in the USA, with a particular focus on silverwork and 19th-century Jewish paintings.

Their collection featured masterpieces by celebrated artists such as Isidor Kaufmann, Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, and Solomon Alexander Hart. Many of these works were generously donated to The Jewish Museum, New York, while others remained within the family. The paintings in this catalogue are being offered at auction for the first time.

For additional items from the collection of Oscar and Regina Gruss in the present catalogue, see lot nos. 133, 144, 147, 153, 154, 204 and 205.