A Bezalel Silver and Hardstone Etrog Box, Jerusalem, 1908-29
Estimate
15,000 - 25,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
rectangular on bracket feet, the lower border with red hardstone cabochons within filigree scrolls, the front with a half-round plaque of a Biblical figure plowing behind an ox, the back with a figure sowing, both flanked by filigree palm trees set with red, green, and black hardstone cabochons, the ends with lightly etched Hebrew inscriptions, the cover with more filigree scrolling around red cabochons, marked on base Bezalel and with ? Austrian control mark AV below caduces with C to the left
height 4 5/8 in.
11.8 cm
length 5 1/4 in.
13.4 cm
Collection of Max and Ruth Eis, Berkeley, California
Acquired by the consignor from Max Eis about 1980.
The Hebrew inscription at one end is, "He who tills his land shall be satisfied with bread" (Proverbs 12:11), and on the other side the second half of that verse, "but he who follows vain pursuits lacks understanding."
An almost identical etrog box is in the Alan and Riva Slifka Collection at the Israel Museum, B09.1072, 129/047, Chaya Benjamin catalogue p. 40. It was featured on a 2013 Israeli postage stamp, see https://services.israelpost.co.il/mall.nsf/prodsbycode/734?OpenDocument&L=EN .
This piece was in the collection of Max and Ruth Eis. Holocaust survivors, they built an important collection of Judaica, partly recorded in a 2000 book, and Ruth was the curator of the Magnes Museum in Berkeley, California, for over 30 years.
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