Staffordshire loving cup printed with Lord Gordon's circumcision
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 6.000 inches (15.24 cm) | Width: 10.125 inches (25.718 cm) | Depth: 6.500 inches (16.51 cm)
Creator(s)
- Peter Ehrenthal (Compiler)
- John Aynsley (Printer)
Biographical History
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.
Archival History
The loving cup was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of 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.
Scope and Content
Staffordshire creamware double handed cup with 2 transfer painted scenes: one of sailors and a drinking song, Can of Grog, by Charles Didbin. The other image, Lord George Riot made a Jew, depicts the circumcision of Lord George Gordon (1751-1793), a British politician who converted to Judaism and was circumcised in 1787, taking the name Israel Ben Abraham. The title refers to the Gordon Riots of 1780, which began with an anti-Catholic demonstration organized by Gordon to protest the Catholic Relief Act. A crowd of 60,000 gathered and anti-Catholic riots broke out in London for several days. In 1788, Gordon was jailed for libel. He continued observing Jewish rituals, and died in Newgate Prison in 1793. This loving cup is one of the more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic artifacts and visual materials.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Large, polychrome, decorated, creamware standing cup with a circular pedestal base with 2 incised and 1 center blue painted line. The base narrows then expands into a tall, deep bowl that flares slightly at the rim. There is a large arched loop handle with embossed petal decoration attached to each side. There is a transfer painted scene on each side of the bowl exterior. The front has an image captioned: Lord George Riot made a Jew. It depicts a man in a red jacket and white breeches, lying on his back on a wooden table. A little boy with a box crouches nearby, hand at the man's jacket pocket. On the right, near his feet, an older woman leans over the man, with a large pair of shears at the ready in her outstretched hand. A rabbi in black stands at her side. A man and woman stand and observe on the left. The back image is titled: The Cann of Grog. It has an image of colorfully dressed sailors on the deck of a masted ship framed by an oval with 4 stanzas of lyrics to a drinking song in script below.
People
- Gordon, George, Lord, 1751-1793--Caricatures and cartoons.
Subjects
- Jews in art--Great Britain--18th century.
- Antisemitism--Great Britain--18th century.
- Antisemitism in art--18th century.
- Jews--Caricatures and cartoons.
Genre
- Household Utensils
- Object