Porcelain tobacco bowl with an image of three Jewish hareskin dealers painted on the front
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 4.750 inches (12.065 cm) | Width: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm) | Depth: 2.125 inches (5.398 cm)
Creator(s)
- Peter Ehrenthal (Compiler)
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 pipe 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
Tobacco pipe bowl with an image of three Jewish hareskin dealers painted on the front. Bowls of this type were used with German Gesteckpfeife (arranged pipe) style tobacco pipes, also known as a Jaeger Pipes, German hunter pipes, German Porcelain pipes, Tyrolean pipes, and Wine Pipes. The tobacco was packed in the porcelain bowl which was then placed in the reservoir (or abguss) of the pipe (2016.184.115b). The reservoir acted as a retainer for the juices and tar, and sometimes wine was placed in the reservoir to flavor the smoke. This style of pipe was popular in Central Europe from the 18th to the early 20th centuries and was most commonly associated with Germanic culture. The bowls that accompanied these types of pipes were often decorated with elaborate images or coats of arms. The commonly reproduced image of three Jewish hareskin dealers was very popular in northern Europe and was reproduced in various mediums. The image depicts the Jewish men with stereotypically hooked noses, hooded eyes, beards, and pointed teeth. The scene, possibly based on a Dutch folktale about three Jewish hareskin dealers who swindle a miserly farmer, can be traced back to the lithographic printing firm of Johan Martin Billroth, which opened in 1829 in Groningen, Netherlands. This tobacco pipe bowl 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
Removable white porcelain, tobacco pipe bowl made to fit into a Gesteckpfeife style tobacco pipe (2016.184.115b) with a painted image of three Jewish hareskin dealers on the front. The cylindrical bowl has an open top with a rolled rim. On the front, within a metallic gold painted border, is an image of three tightly grouped men in conversation, depicted from the waist up. The diminutive man on the left is in right profile facing the man in left profile on the right, and they point at each other with extended index fingers. Their faces frame that of the center man, who has a large nose and eyes that look to the right. They wear tricorn hats and collarless jackets with large white buttons; the man on the left is in black, the others in light brown. The man on the left has a walking stick, and a long, sloped nose; the right man wears a black vest, has blonde hair, a large, hooked nose, and carries a sack over his shoulder. They all smile at each other with hooded eyes, and have trimmed beards and sideburns. In the background, the sky is light blue with gray clouds above sparse green foliage. Below the image, the bottom of the bowl has a small cylindrical knob extruding from the front. The bottom of the bowl tapers into a stem that extends down at a backward angle. The end of the stem has shallow threading and the bore is plugged with a malleable green resin. Adhered to the back of the bowl are the remains of a red circular paper and the interior and top of the bowl are stained with tobacco residue.
Subjects
- Smoking--Caricatures and cartoons.
- Porcelain.
- Germany.
- Jewish peddlers--Caricatures and cartoons.
- Jews--Caricatures and cartoons.
- Netherlands.
- Jewish merchants--Caricatures and cartoons.
- Jews in art.
- Stereotypes (Social psychology) in art.
- Smoking--Europe--History.
- Jews--Folk art.
Genre
- Personal Equipment and Supplies
- Smoking paraphernalia.
- Object