Rare Copper Kiddush cup, German, 17th century circa 1660,...

Rare Copper Kiddush cup,

German, 17th century circa 1660,

Very rare copper Kiddush goblet round on knopped stem, detailed engraved scenes, lions on one side and bearded man wearing headgear making Kiddush with Shabbat candles burning in the background and wine jug. Leaf engravings between the scenes and diagonal design on lip. Copper Kiddush cups from this era are very hard to find .

The end of the 15th century, which brought a new epoch for the Christian world, brought no relief to the Jews. Jews in Germany remained the victims of a religious hatred that ascribed to them all possible evils. When the established Church, threatened in its spiritual power in Germany and elsewhere, prepared for its conflict with the culture of the German Renaissance, one of its most convenient points of attack was rabbinic literature. At this time, as once before in France, Jewish converts spread false reports in regard to the Talmud, but an advocate of the book arose in the person of Johann Reuchlin, the German humanist, who was the first one in Germany to include the Hebrew language among the humanities. His opinion, though strongly opposed by the Dominicans and their followers, finally prevailed when the humanistic Pope Leo X permitted the Talmud to be printed in Italy. Wikepedia

This cup would have been produced a few years later and would have been an important object at the time.

Height 10cm