An American Folk Art redware matzah plate

the red body covered in white slip, scratched through with scrolling grapevine and Hebrew inscription.

Alice Ellen Silverberg (1896-1976) and Celia Sylvia Silverberg (1893-1979) were sisters in Buffalo, New York.  They each held doctorates, Celia in psychology and Alice in Home Economics, and worked as a psychologist and teacher, respectively, in the Buffalo schools.  Although not belonging to a syngagogue, they were highly religious and learned in Hebrew.

The sisters had a kiln in the house they shared, and several examples of their ceramics are known.  Three plates for Purim, Hanukah, and Rosh Ha-Shanah were featured in The Jewish Heritage in American Folk Art (New York: Museum of American Folk Art and The Jewish Museum, 1984), nos. 109-111, and a Passover plate was sold Sotheby's New York, December 7, 1984, lot 305.

The plate is inscribed with the word "Matzah" at center, and on the rim "Why is this night different from all other nights."