Silver Purim Cup

Artist Unknown

ca. 1690

Silver cup engraved with a person in profile wearing a jester hat drinking out of a barrel.
On this silver Purim cup from Augsburg, Germany, a quotation from the Talmud (b. Megillah 7b) inscribed around the rim advises its bearer to drink in celebration of Purim until unable to distinguish between Mordechai and Haman, the respective protagonist and antagonist of the Purim story. This edict is illustrated on the cup by a figure raising his glass (on the reverse, not shown). A second figure (seen here) represents the performance of comic Purim plays, Purimspieln.

Credits

Purim Cup. Gift of Richard Scheuer / The Jewish Museum, New York.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

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