Amulet for a Newborn Girl
Artist Unknown
ca. 1750
Printed amulet for an infant girl from Germany. It was (presumably) printed alongside its companion amulet for a male child (see “Amulet for a Newborn Boy”). However, the pair were separated. A woman lights the Sabbath candles above her recently baked challah in the amulet’s top center. Below the main texts is a cartouche containing the three obligations of the Jewish woman: niddah, the relative isolation of the woman during the ritually impure time of her menstrual cycle; challah, the special baking of bread for Sabbath and holiday meals; and hadlikah, the ritual kindling of lights for the Sabbath and holidays.
Credits
Courtesy GFC Trust / William L. Gross. Photo by Ardon bar Hama.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.
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