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Terracotta figurine of a Jewish marriage negotiation

Object | Accession Number: 2016.184.50

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    Terracotta figurine of a Jewish marriage negotiation

    Overview

    Brief Narrative
    Colorful terracotta figure group, Lydia is Married, modelled by Anton Sohn in early 19th century Germany. It depicts four figures, a Jewish man, presenting his daughter to a prospective groom, while bargaining with the matchmaker. Sohn (1769-1841), trained as a church painter, had a workshop in Zizenhausen, Germany, that was celebrated for its exceptionally detailed and elaborate terracotta figurines. His subject matter ranged widely and included genre and satirical groups on popular, topical themes, and religious figurines which were favorites for Christmas displays in homes, as well as businesses. This figure group is one of the more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic artifacts and visual materials.
    Artwork Title
    Lydia wird vermählt
    Alternate Title
    Lydia is married
    Date
    manufacture:  approximately 1820-approximately 1830
    Geography
    manufacture: Zizenhausen (Germany)
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Katz Family
    Contributor
    Compiler: Peter Ehrenthal
    Artisan: Anton Sohn
    Biography
    The Katz Ehrenthal Collection is a collection of more than 900 objects depicting Jews and antisemitic and anti-Jewish propaganda from the medieval to the modern era, in Europe, Russia, and the United States. The collection was amassed by Peter Ehrenthal, a Romanian Holocaust survivor, to document the pervasive history of anti-Jewish hatred in Western art, politics and popular culture. It includes crude folk art as well as pieces created by Europe's finest craftsmen, prints and periodical illustrations, posters, paintings, decorative art, and toys and everyday household items decorated with depictions of stereotypical Jewish figures.

    Physical Details

    Language
    German
    Classification
    Decorative Arts
    Category
    Ceramics
    Physical Description
    Molded, polychrome, halfback, terracotta figure group of 3 men and a woman. On the left, an older man in a black tricorn hat and long green overcoat stands next to a bosomy young woman in a red dress. She is smiling at the young man on her right, who grins in return. His hand is tucked into the front of his buttoned brown tailcoat. On the far right stands a prosperous looking man in a purple tailcoat and striped trousers, with a pouch in his extended right hand. A pink nosegay hangs from his waist. The man on the far left is facing right to talk to the gentleman on the far right. The faces have stereotypical Jewish features: large ears, large, pointed noses, heavy brow over hooded eyes, and fleshy lips. It has an open, flat sliced, halfback with a hollow concave interior, unpainted with furrowed lines. They stand on a hollow, light green, elongated oval base with a captioned paper label.
    Dimensions
    overall: Height: 6.250 inches (15.875 cm) | Width: 7.750 inches (19.685 cm) | Depth: 1.875 inches (4.763 cm)
    Materials
    overall : terracotta, paint, glaze, paper, adhesive, ink
    Inscription
    front, base, paper label, black ink: Nache meine Tochter mein hauptkapital, mein alles! Das taiht a Mann, a tasentvo(ss?)er Mann, a (gefchichuer?) Mann, a raicher Mann, a th(eurer?) Freund! Frivi(ss?) haben deine kunftreiche hand deine (s?)chaine Srimm, deinen wi(k?)igen Augen S(?)opf, deine angenchiner Manieren, deinevortreff(s?)iche Perlon, er wi(?) dich heirathen, wirft defoaen Mein? [My daughter, mein main capital, mein everything, here is a man who likes your eyes, your piano playing, your manners, your person, he would marry you, would you say no?]

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    No restrictions on access
    Conditions on Use
    No restrictions on use

    Keywords & Subjects

    Personal Name
    Sohn, Anton, 1769-1841.

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The figure group was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family.
    Funding Note
    The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
    Special Collection
    Katz Ehrenthal Collection
    Record last modified:
    2024-02-21 07:11:15
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn537138

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