An Important Passover Towel, Alsace: 1831

Painted cotton (44 x 16 in.;  1120 x 405 mm). Few light water stains, mounted in a carved wooden frame. Not examined outside of frame.

Barbara Kirschenblatt-Gimblett and Cissy Grossman, Fabric of Jewish Life, 1977, no. 228; Bonni-Dara Michaels, Gabriel M. Goldstein and Stephen O. Parnes, The Art of Passover, 1994, pp. 48-53

This elaborate Passover textile, known in Judeo-Alsatian as a Sederzwehl, demonstrates the Jewish adaptation of the Alsatian folk practice of using a decorative show towel to cover the collected handtowels of individual diners. Alsatian Jews, in a similar fashion, created and decorated show towels to be used during the Passover seder handwashing rituals.

This magnificent towel is inscribed in Hebrew with verses from the Bible and the Passover Haggadah. It is further embellished at top with images of a sheep and a goat tied to a tree (symbolic of the Passover sacrifice) as well as depictions of the ritual foods consumed at the seder, matzohs, maror, and a kiddush cup with wine. At center, an elaborate coat of arms is supported by two crowned lions, rampant. At bottom, a wicker basket overflows with flowers, attended by birds and butterflies. A remarkably similar Passover towel, likely by the same artist, is in the collection of the Jewish Museum, NY (F5004). Both towels bear the same coats-of-arms and were apparently owned by members of the same family. Another Passover towel, dated 1832, formerly in the Judaica collection of Michael and Judy Steinhardt, was sold at Sotheby's, NY, on April 29, 2013, lot 183.

LITERATURE: Barbara Kirschenblatt-Gimblett and Cissy Grossman, Fabric of Jewish Life, 1977, no. 228; Bonni-Dara Michaels, Gabriel M. Goldstein and Stephen O. Parnes, The Art of Passover, 1994, pp. 48-53