Havdalah Candleholder and Spicebox Compendium – Unique Model – France / Germany, Probably 19th Century

Havdalah Candleholder and Spicebox Compendium – Unique Model – France / Germany, Probably 19th Century

Silver, repoussé, pierced, and soldered.
Hallmarks: · Possibly municipal mark of Rouen – crowned G with star underneath; · A peacock?; · The letter M in script (possibly false marks from Hanau, Germany, late 19th century); · French fineness mark (a crab) in use beginning 1838.
An item of unique design, combining the two havdalah functions of candleholder and spicebox. The spicebox occupies the bottom portion of the device; it takes the form of a rectangular box, with the interior divided by partitions into five compartments. A small handle enables the lid to slide back and forth, for opening and closing. The lid is dome-shaped in the middle. Soldered onto it is the candleholder, consisting, in the center, of two additional domes with fancy, variously undulating rims. Four tall, cylindrical silver rods are soldered onto the middle dome (the one soldered onto the top of the lid of the spicebox). A pair of large, hand-shaped ornaments with palms open and all fingers pointing upward is soldered onto the ends of the rods – one per each pair of rods. The uppermost dome-shaped ornament is threaded onto the four rods and serves as the candleholder, whose position can be adjusted by sliding it up and down the rods. A large bell is suspended from the concave bottom of this ornament. The pair of "hands" at the ends of the rods serve to secure the havdalah candle from the sides. The spicebox underneath is supported by four inverted "L"-shaped legs.
Similar havdalah items with sliding lids originating from the region of Alsace-Lorraine are known to exist. But the hand-shaped ornaments at the top make this compendium unique. It is possible that the bottom, spicebox section, is earlier, and the upper section, comprising the rods and hand-shaped ornaments, was added sometime in the course of the 19th century.
For other havdalah vessels with a sliding lid, see: Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme (mahJ, Paris), item nos. D.98.04.096.CL and D.98.04.091.CL (both from the Strauss-Rothschild Collection, Cluny Museum, Paris); The Stieglitz Collection, 1987, item no. 74.
For other uniquely shaped havdalah vessels from the region of Alsace-Lorraine, see: Musée Alsacien, item nos. D.66.002.0.53, D.66.002.0.339, D.66.002.0.133, and D.66.002.0.305. Similar vessels from the city of Metz in northeastern France are discussed by Michele Klein in her article "The Havdalah Candle-holder", Ars Judaica, 2012, pp. 31-54.

Height: 23.5 cm. Width: 9.5 cm. Depth: 6.5 cm. Good condition. Minor fracture to one leg, repaired.

Exhibitions:
1. Glasgow, Festival of Jewish Arts Exhibition, McLellan Galleries, 1951, item no. 249.
2. Basel, Jewish Museum of Switzerland, JMS 1037.
Provenance:
1. Collection of Solomon David Schloss (1815-1911).
2. Lewis Raphael Castle (1858-1932), son of the above.
3. Peter Castle (1922-2011), grandson of the above.
4. Heirs of the above.
This item appears in the inventory list of the Schloss Collection, dated 1923 (see appendix, pp. 146-148), and is documented in a 1931 collection photograph (see p. 11).