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    Title

  • Wall hanging for Passover

  • Physical Description

    1 textile : cotton, embroidery, lace

  • Date

    1895

  • Summary

    Embroidered cotton fabric with two tabs in upper corners for hanging. The embroidered motifs combine Jewish motifs (round matzah, wine goblets) and secular motifs (wreath of flowers, crown). At the bottom of the fabric are two rows of lace with another cotton strip and the initials "H.F.W." in center.

    The Hebrew inscriptions relate to the Haggadah read at the Seder: "Order of Passover: Passover, matzah, maror; Creator of the fruit of the vine; the wise son, the wicked son, the simple son, the son who does not know how to ask [a question]."

  • Subject

    Passover, Customs and practices; Fasts and feasts, Judaism; Flowers; Crowns; Drinking vessels

  • Genre

    Lace (needlework); Embroidery

  • Medium

    Textiles

  • Part Of

    Lisel Goldschmidt Collection, AR 7150

  • Accession Number

  • URL

Biographical/Historical Information

The fabric was possibly used as a decorative towel to cover washcloths used during a Seder. Decorative towels were a tradition in Alsace, among other places: Alsatian Jews welcomed visitors to a Seder by washing their hands and drying them with a towel that was then used during the reading of the Haggadah. These towels were usually covered with a decorative fabric (see more examples at Yeshiva University Museum, e.g. 2006.231).

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Citation

Wall hanging for Passover, Leo Baeck Institute, 61.24.