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Lot Essay
THE LINGENFELD TREASURE
The present beaker was discovered in 1969 on a farm near Lingenfeld, Germany, about sixty miles north of Strasbourg. The silver wares and jewelry were found within terracotta vessels alongside coins dating to the early 14th century, corresponding with the Black Plague's advance through Europe with devastating consequences. An estimated one third of the population of the continent was killed. The hoard included six silver vessels including the present lot: a double cup, octagonal beaker, and nuppenbecher now in the collection of the Historisches Museum der Pfaltz, Speyer, and a bowl and a similar decagonal cup which are in private collections. Additionally, a number of pieces of jewelry, including a ring brooch now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. no. 2006.257), and coins were also discovered.
A JEWISH CONTEXT
It has been suggested that the Lingenfeld Hoard was the property of a Jewish family fleeing from prosecution as Jewish communities were often blamed for the pandemic and put to death. This is supported by contemporary hoards discovered in the area that can be definitively connected to local Jewish communities. One such hoard is the Erfurt Treasure, which included a number of medieval Ashkenazi Jewish wedding rings, as well as a set of eight cylindrical nesting beakers with flaring rims. A further set of nesting beakers, of hexagonal form more similar to the present beaker, were supposedly found in the wall of a Gothic dwelling in the town of Kuttenberg, now in the collection of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg (Inv. No. HG11628). The applied bands around the body of the largest beaker in this set, similar to those on the present lot, indicates that the beaker offered here was possibly also originally part of a nesting group. One of these cups found in Kuttenberg is engraved with the Hebrew word Ze’ev, meaning wolf, further supporting their connection to the Jewish community.
While the forms of these beakers are not explicitly Judaic, it is very possible they served a religious purpose as Kiddush cups for Shabbat. The faceted forms of these beakers are drawn from wood examples, with the twisting bands as seen on the present beaker reminiscent of twisted willow rods. German Rabbi Jacob bar Moses Moellin (1365-1427) forbade the use of wood since it could not be properly ritually purified, so silver would have been a preferred medium for sacramental vessels. Further evidence of the use of this form of beaker in religious ceremonies can be seen in the numerous depictions of similar examples in in Passover scenes of illuminated manuscripts, such as in the fifteenth century Nuremburg and Yahuda Haggadot.
The present beaker was discovered in 1969 on a farm near Lingenfeld, Germany, about sixty miles north of Strasbourg. The silver wares and jewelry were found within terracotta vessels alongside coins dating to the early 14th century, corresponding with the Black Plague's advance through Europe with devastating consequences. An estimated one third of the population of the continent was killed. The hoard included six silver vessels including the present lot: a double cup, octagonal beaker, and nuppenbecher now in the collection of the Historisches Museum der Pfaltz, Speyer, and a bowl and a similar decagonal cup which are in private collections. Additionally, a number of pieces of jewelry, including a ring brooch now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. no. 2006.257), and coins were also discovered.
A JEWISH CONTEXT
It has been suggested that the Lingenfeld Hoard was the property of a Jewish family fleeing from prosecution as Jewish communities were often blamed for the pandemic and put to death. This is supported by contemporary hoards discovered in the area that can be definitively connected to local Jewish communities. One such hoard is the Erfurt Treasure, which included a number of medieval Ashkenazi Jewish wedding rings, as well as a set of eight cylindrical nesting beakers with flaring rims. A further set of nesting beakers, of hexagonal form more similar to the present beaker, were supposedly found in the wall of a Gothic dwelling in the town of Kuttenberg, now in the collection of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg (Inv. No. HG11628). The applied bands around the body of the largest beaker in this set, similar to those on the present lot, indicates that the beaker offered here was possibly also originally part of a nesting group. One of these cups found in Kuttenberg is engraved with the Hebrew word Ze’ev, meaning wolf, further supporting their connection to the Jewish community.
While the forms of these beakers are not explicitly Judaic, it is very possible they served a religious purpose as Kiddush cups for Shabbat. The faceted forms of these beakers are drawn from wood examples, with the twisting bands as seen on the present beaker reminiscent of twisted willow rods. German Rabbi Jacob bar Moses Moellin (1365-1427) forbade the use of wood since it could not be properly ritually purified, so silver would have been a preferred medium for sacramental vessels. Further evidence of the use of this form of beaker in religious ceremonies can be seen in the numerous depictions of similar examples in in Passover scenes of illuminated manuscripts, such as in the fifteenth century Nuremburg and Yahuda Haggadot.