Lot 695 R

A still life from 1930 is similar in its depiction of objects from Jewish rites, albeit in landscape format; the number of vessels is however greater, including the use of the large seven-branched candelabrum, which are positioned towards the viewer, close to the edge of the image (see cat. no. 57, in: exhib. cat. Jankel Adler, Düsseldorf/Tel Aviv/Lodz 1985). Our work, probably from the same period, focuses on a collection of objects on a relatively small wooden table, resulting in a compact composition and visual statement.
Depicted on the table is a besamim box, from which spices and fragrances are spread, and a Scroll of Esther - not a Torah scroll, which erroneously led to the title "Vessels for the Sabbath". The Book of Esther is read during Purim, which due to the wearing of costumes and masks is often referred to as the 'Jewish Carnival'.
The work comes from the prominent collection of the London solicitor Wilfrid Ariel Evill that was started in the 1920s and featured mainly British 20th century art. This important collection was exhibited in a comprehensive exhibition after his death in Brighton in 1965 and was inherited by his ward, Honor Frost, a well-known pioneer of marine archaeology.

We would like to thank Constanze Baumgart, Cologne, and Hermann Simon, Berlin, for kind information regarding backgrounds of religious studies.