Homage of the Chief Rabbi and Jewish Community of Kazimierz to Prince Karl von Auersperg, Krakow: 1796. Printed on Silk

1 bifolium (17 1/4 x 9 1/2 in.; 440 x 240 mm). Printed on silk in black ink on three of four sides, one intentionally blank. Original yellow thread mostly removed from selvage, leaving a few frayed threads and strands of silk. Central lateral crease. Black solander case, inset black leather label with titles stamped in gilt.

The formal paying of homage to the ruling authorities was a vestige of medieval feudal practices in which each of the various constituent estates within the realm swore allegiance to the ruler who in turn guaranteed their protection. Jews had long been seen as a separate constituency within the European nations in which they lived, disconnected from the nobility, the peasantry and the merchant classes. Thus it was incumbent upon them to offer their allegiances as a separate group. Naturally, the paying of homage required renewal whenever a change occurred in the composition of the reigning authority.  Following the third and final partition of Poland in 1775, Krakow and the adjacent Jewish city Kazimierz fell under Austrian rule.  The present lot documents the formal homage of the Jews of Kazimierz to Prince Karl Joseph Anton von Auersperg (1720-1800), a member of the Princely family of Auersperg, originally from Carniola, one of the hereditary Habsburg duchies in what is now Slovenia.

Created for formal presentation to the Prince, the document was printed on luxurious silk rather than on paper or parchment, as a way of demonstrating the exceedingly high esteem in which the Jewish community held their secular ruler.