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Antique
Judaica
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| A Periodical Devoted to Jewish Art and the Judaica Market | Volume I, No. 1, Summer, 2001 |
| Published By "JudaicAntiques" on eBay. All rights reserved. © 2001 | |
Jews buy art. Quite possibly, they even occupy as significant
a place in the art market as they do in the book market. Pop and Op, Kinetic,
pre- and post-Impressionist - you can find it all on the walls of a typical
Jewish home.
But Jewish art is another story. Until recently, the most you could hope to see was the obligatory single Israeli print and perhaps the kitsch painting of a bearded Hassidic rabbi. There was little appreciation and still less understanding of the history, meaning and nature of so the history, meaning and nature of authentic Judaica.
Now, however, that searching for one's roots has become popular and it is fashionable to take pride in one's ethnic heritage, antique Jewish art has suddenly been "discovered." Increasingly, Jews see it as a way of creating a positive Jewish atmosphere in their home, and non-Jews find Jewish art fascinating. For Jews, this is especially so when the art in question is usable not only as decoration, but also as ritual object, art linked to practice.
Non-Jews are attracted to Judaica because of its beauty and exotic nature, and by the symbolism and rich diversity of Jewish art. Both Jewish and non-Jewish collectors are finding that eminently collectible art objects of the Jews exist which are not only beautiful and interesting, but also express Judaism's rich cultural, artistic and religious heritage.
Collectors discover, to their delight, that Jewish ceremonial art was not confined exclusively in the synagogue, but was used primarily in the home. Along with majestic Torah ornaments and sumptuous textiles of splendor and beauty in the synagogue, there are Chanukah lamps of bronze and silver, beautiful illuminated Ketubot, marriage contracts, decorated Megillot, Esther scrolls, and illustrated Passover Haggadot - interesting decorative objects for the wall, curio cabinet or book case, all created with the Jewish family in mind.
And they are discovering Jewish genre paintings and prints - European artists of the 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Moritz Oppenheim, Max Liebermann, Lesser Ury, Isidor Kaufmann, Lazar Krestin, Alfred Lakos, Jakob Steinhardt, H. Winter, S. Hirszenberg, Jehudo Epstein, Stanislaus Bender, Abel Pann, Leopold Pilichowsky, Hermann Struck, Joseph Budko, Arthur Szyk and others, all masters of representational art who captured the Jewish experience on canvas and paper.
While the upsurge of widespread interest in Jewish art may be recent, collecting Judaica and studying it is not.
- The earliest known collector was Alexander David (1687 - 1765), a German court Jew, who bequeathed his collection to the synagogue of Brunswick.
- In the mid-1800's, the noted French musical composer and conductor Joseph Isaac Strauss (1806-1888) collected Judaica. He displayed 82 items from his collection at the Universal Exhibition in the Trocadero Palace in Paris. He exhibited part of his collection at the Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition in London in 1887. Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild subsequently acquired and presented it as a gift to the French nation. It reposes in the Cluny Museum in Paris, where it forms the core of a superb Judaica collection.
- In 1896, David Kaufmann, a noted scholar and collector of Hebrew books and manuscripts, organized a short-lived "Society for the Study of Artistic Objects Used in Jewish Worship" in Vienna. His collection is now in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest.
- In 1900, Heinrich Frauberger, a non-Jewish trained art historian, organized the "Society for the Research of Jewish Ceremonial Art" in Frankfort-am-Main, which published a journal and arranged public exhibitions. Frauberger once experienced every collector's dream - he acquired 40 antique spice containers by just happening on a second-hand dealer during a transaction to have them sold and melted down as scrap silver. The objects Frauberger collected formed the nucleus of the Frankfurt Jewish Museum, which later united with the Rothschild Museum.
- The English Jewish businessman Philip Salomons (1796-1867) assembled an exceptional small collection of Jewish art for use in his private synagogue in Brighton, which was later acquired by Reuben Sasoon, in whose family collection they remained.
- David Solomon Sassoon (1880-1942), a scion of a wealthy family, traveled extensively and devoted his life to acquiring superb Hebrew book and manuscript treasures.
- Rabbi Moses Gaster (1856-1939), spiritual leader of the London Sephardic community, collected some 2,000 Hebrew and Samaritan manuscripts and 20,000 printed books, of which 1,300 were acquired by the British Museum.
- Sally Kirchstein (1869-1930) assembled a collection of Jewish ceremonial art, part of which was purchased by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations in 1926 and now forms the nucleus of Los Angeles' Skirball Museum collection.
- The Jerusalem dentist Dr. Heinrich Feuchtwanger (1898-1963) was an avid collector who assembled a first rate Judaica collection, which subsequently was added to the collection of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
- Philanthropist Victor Carter acquired a significant collection of Jewish art from Scholem Asch, Yiddish writer and dramatist, which is now esconced in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
- The superb collection of Tel Aviv antique dealer Joseph Stieglitz (1903-1990) was acquired for the Israel Museum by Ludwig Jesselson of New York.
- Ephraim Benguiat's collection of Jewish ceremonial art, brought to the United States from Smyrna, was exhibited for some years at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington where it was catalogued by Cyrus Adler. Felix Warburg purchased the collection and presented it to the Jewish Museum of The Jewish Theological Seminary of New York, laying the groundwork for the Jewish Museum of New York. The museum's major benefactor was the indefatigable Harry G. Friedman (1882-1965) who, in 1941, presented 850 objects, the first of 5,000 he was to acquire for the museum.
- Noted New York jurist and Governor Irving H. Lehman (1876-1945) maintained a collection of antique Jewish art, which was donated to Temple Emanuel in New York and forms the core of its temple museum.
- Michael Zagayski (1895-1964), the Polish-American Jewish diplomat, whose superb Judaica collection in Warsaw was confiscated by the Nazis in World War II, started anew and assembled an unparalleled private collection which, when sold at auction in New York in the early 1960s, engendered excitement and added impetus to interest in collecting Judaica.
- South American collectors Jacobo and Asea Furman assembled a superb, well- researched collection of Jewish ceremonial art over the last quarter of the 20th century which was sold at auction in New York at the turn of the century.
Today there are scores of fine collections of antique Judaica being assembled by new collectors throughout the world.
What is "collectible" in Judaica? The answer depends on taste, interests, and certainly, one's pocketbook. Most people prefer to collect a variety of Jewish antique categories rather than to specialize. His is because of the interest provided by variety and diversification and because the rarity of fine antique Jewish art makes specialized collecting more difficult.
In any case, one should logically begin with the least scarce categories. They include Chanukah lamps, spice containers and textiles of all kinds. These were ubiquitous in Jewish homes everywhere. These offer a wide variety of types and forms to choose from. Old picture post cards and print reproductions of various kinds are also readily available at low to moderate cost.
Exotic beauty, Hebrew calligraphy, intrinsic interest, ready identification of original owner, location and exact date - as well as attractiveness and ease of display - they can be framed and displayed like pictures - make decorated Ketubot, or marriage documents, highly desirable collectibles. Good examples may be obtained at just a few hundred dollars each, while superb Italian illuminated Ketubot going back to the 1700s or earlier can go for tens of thousands of dollars.
Passover Haggadot are good collectibles. Often attractively illustrated, the several Haggadot usually available in every Jewish home can serve as the nucleus of a collection.
Collecting Jewish Textiles
Jewish textiles and embroideries are interesting, attractive and colorful, are available in a variety of shapes and sizes - and can still be had at moderate prices. There are Torah ark curtains, Torah mantles, bimah covers, Sabbath and festival Hallah covers, Passover matzah covers, Tallis and T'fillin bags. Interesting but rarer are embroidered Passover hand towels, circumcision pillows and garments, bridal and other ethnic women's head coverings and folk costumes of various kinds.
Possibly the most interesting of all Jewish textiles is the Wimpel. A marvelous collectible and one of the most fascinating and decorative examples of Jewish folk art, the Wimpel was originally a swaddling cloth wrapped around a baby boy at his circumcision. It was then washed and cut into strips which were sewn together to form a long, narrow strip of cloth. On the Wimpel was then written the boy's name, the father's name - and often the family name - the day of the week, day of the month and day of the year in which he was born and, of ten, the place, followed by the blessing that he grow up to the study of Torah, to the marriage canopy and to a life defined by performing acts of lovingkindness for others. Upon the boy being weaned he was ceremoniously carried into the synagogue where he presented his Wimpel, and it was then wrapped around a Torah scroll and thereafter employed as a Torah binder in the synagogue.
The Hebrew text was often written in ornate medieval calligraphic letters, and at times were richly decorated. Usually colorfully painted and occasionally embroidered, old Wimpels are at times embellished with whimsical, folkloristic pictures. Wimpels are easy to date, since they always have the exact date in the text. Many are available for moderate prices ranging from a few hundred dollars on upwards, with the rarest and most decorative examples costing many times these figures.
How does One go about Collecting Judaica?
For starters, try your home. And those of parents and grandparents, and of friends. A diligent search in attics and cellars will sometimes turn up exciting finds which, when repaired, cleaned and polished, could turn out to be excellent beginning acquisitions.
Second-hand or "junk" shops and religious supply stores in old Jewish neighborhoods have long been favorite hunting grounds for collectors. Antique shops, and especially those specializing in old silver, are good potential sources. The same goes for antique shows where there are many vendors displaying their wares.
A good, reliable dealer could be very helpful. He should be both reputable and knowledgeable. Ideally, he should be well acquainted with all aspects of Jewish observance, traditions, customs and rituals, since Jewish ceremonial art is so involved with these. It goes without saying that he should read Hebrew fluently - one can hardly understand a Ketubah's contents without good knowledge of written Hebrew and Aramaic - and be able to decipher inscriptions. He should be familiar with Judaica literature, as well as with the content of major Judaica collections.
On-Line Auctions of Judaica
Auctions are a source. Of late there is the phenomenon of on-line auction sales of art- ifacts. One can go on-line at e-Bay at any time of day or night and see all types of Judaica be- ing offered for sale at competitive bidding. One can check these sales daily or even several times each week and see a wide variety of examples of Jewish art that one can bid on and acquire.
One can acquire fine examples of Judaica and build a collection through these on-line auctions. However some of the auction sales may contain serious pitfalls for the unwary. There are good, reputable and knowledgeable vendors who stand behind everything they sell, and who guarantee the authenticity of the objects they offer. They are genuinely interested in helping collectors acquire fine Jewish antiques and to build museum-quality collections of antique Judaica.
Fakes and Frauds
On the other hand, there are many forgeries offered as authentic Judaic antiques by unscrupulous vendors. The rising prices of antique Judaica and the increasing numbers of collectors has engendered the birth of a mini-industry of "antique" Judaica manufacturing. A surprisingly substantial portion of "antique" Jewish art collected today is spurious and of doubtful value. In some "collections," the non-authentic objects far outnumber the genuine.
There are some very good forgers of Judaica, turned out by fine silversmiths, but for the most part Judaica fakes are poor, shoddy examples of often lazy workmanship, and they are easily discernible for what they are. Sometimes a new ceremonial object will be "aged" by the addition of a Hebrew inscription.
Many of the modern Jewish "antiques" are "put-together" objects where disparate silver pieces - including, at times, genuinely hallmarked old pieces - are joined to create old/new Jewish antiques. In examining an object, careful attention should be paid to whether all of its parts form a stylistic unit.
Why do collectors and - and even museums - succumb to blatant forgeries? Ignorance, probably. Ignorance of Jewish antiques. Ignorance of Jewish history and Judaism's traditions and ceremonies. And ignorance of the actual prices of good antique Judaica. Ever-present is the desire for "stealing" a bargain which blinds one to the reality that while bargains may indeed occasionally be had from time to time, that is not the norm. Care must be made to distinguish between a genuine bargain and a look-alike copy going at below- market price.
Gold Judaica
Some knowledge of the field is necessary, as well as a sense of what's reasonable and what is not reasonable when it comes to collecting antique Judaica. Which brings us to the subject of gold Judaica. It doesn't take long to discover that Jewish ceremonial objects were made of various materials, especially of brass, pewter and silver. Gold Judaica, how- ever, is so rare that it is almost non-existent. Hardly were there Jews who could afford to commission ceremonial objects made of gold, and consequently hardly any examples of gold Judaica were ever made. Of the few gold pieces that were made, the exigencies of Jewish history and the tragic Jewish experience have been such that almost all were melted down. The finest and largest Jewish museums may have a miniscule number of gold Judaica among the thousands of objects in their collections, and the overwhelming majority of private and public Judaica collections in the world have none at all.
It is thus disconcerting to see piece after piece of "antique Judaica" fashioned of gold being offered for sale on-line at e-Bay. It might be an idea for the bidders on these objects to take a moment to ask themselves some obvious questions, such as - how is it possible that so many objects of "antique" gold Judaica, the rarest of the rare, are repeatedly offered for sale at e-Bay? And how is it, that such pieces are frequently routinely sold at prices ranging between $1,500 and $3,000, when, if authentic, their great rarity would dictate that they would bring ten, twenty or fifty times those prices? Are these pieces being snapped up by sharp buyers for a miniscule fraction of their real value from unknowledgeable sellers who are unwittingly letting them go at a fraction of their value? Or, perhaps, are they being duped by unscrupulous sellers of forgeries who are foisting fakes upon unsuspecting - and unknowledgeable - buyers?
As to avowed reproductions and facsimiles, there is nothing wrong in collecting them if you can't afford the real thing. But bear in mind that these will not rise in value as will genuine antiques. In addition, if you pay as much or more for a shiny copy of a spice container than for a genuine 19th century one, you may wish to rethink your premise of collecting expensive copies and consider collecting quality originals.
Some Tips on Collecting Judaica:
1. Visit the better Jewish museums as often as you can - among them, the Jewish Museum of New York, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, The Jewish Museum, London, the Skirball Museum, Los Angeles, the Judah Magnes Museum, Berkeley. All are accessible. Familiarize yourself with their contents.
2. Read as much as you can. The following can serve as a starter:
- Jewish Art by Cecil Roth (Massada Press, Tel Aviv and New York).
- Jewish Ceremonial Art by Abram Kanof (Harry Abrams, New York).
- A Collectors' Guide to Judaica by Jay Weinstein (Thames and Hudson, London and New York).
3. Buy museum-quality art. Buying "Museum-quality" does not mean "buying expensive pieces." It does mean using the standard of a good museum to determine what should be included n the collection. Museum-quality objects are not always the most expensive ones. The sophisticated collector emulates museums in seeking the significant and not merely the superficially attractive.
4. Buy fewer objects, but better ones. This principle of fine art collecting applies also to Judaica. Whatever your collecting budget, try to limit your purchases to the fewest - and the best possible pieces in spending the same amount of money. While few collectors buy Jewish art for investment per se - although Judaica has certainly proved itself over the years to be an excellent investment - collectors are quite properly interested in the long term appreciation in the value of the art they buy. Sums invested in the purchase of a few quality art objects should eventually be worth substantially more than the same sums divided among many pieces.
It is only by becoming knowledgeable that a collector will be able truly to enjoy the beautiful and significant objects of the Jewish artistic and cultural heritage - and to use his collection as the entrance to that heritage.
Please write to tell us what kinds of items you like. Although obviously we can't easily fill specific orders for antiques, we might be able to help you if you were to let us know the categories of objects in which you are interested.
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