Jüdische Ceremonien (Jewish Ceremonies), [Nuremburg] J.P. Wolff Seel Erben: ca. 1730

1 broadsheet (13 ¼ x 15 ¼  in.; 303.5 x 309 mm). Ink and gouache on paper; lightly creased, backed, tears at creases expertly repaired, with small loss only to a single image in the upper right corner.

A copy of the Engelbrecht Sukkah engraving is located in the Jewish Museum NY (F4673a); for an image, see The New Jewish Encyclopedia, New York: 1976, p. 462.

This extraordinarily rare engraving features twenty hand-colored vignettes of Jewish lifestyles and ceremonies. Prominently depicted here are five images relating to the holiday of Sukkot (upper right), four illustrations connected to the synagogue, three images focusing on the Jewish wedding and another of a circumcision.  The artist has also included six unusual scenes of Jewish merchants such as, a money changer (top right) a horse trader (center) and a clothes merchant (center right). The anonymous artist apparently modeled the sukkot-related images directly on a print created by Martin Engelbrecht (1684-1756) an Augsburg artist and publisher. The wedding scenes are inspired by the engravings created for Bernard Picart Cérémonies et Coutumes Religieuses de tous les Peuples du Monde(Amsterdam, 1723).

This print was published by the Heirs of Johann Peter Wolff circa 1730.  In the early eighteenth century, four sons of J. P. Wolff took over their father's publishing company and continued producing copperplate engravings under his name. The extant items from their press primarily consist of cityscapes, however, other surviving numbered prints include pastoral scenes and the dance of death. The nature of this engraving suggests that these images might have been a rare surviving example of Jewish-themed ausschneidebogen (paper cutouts) to be used in the popular European pastime of decoupage and the creation of miniature dioramas.