Silver Seder Plate and Kos shel Eliyahu by the Artist Yehuda Ludwig Wolpert. New York, ca. 1960

Silver Seder Plate and Kos shel Eliyahu by the Artist Yehuda Ludwig Wolpert. New York, ca. 1960

With stamps of Wolpert and the Tobe Pascher Workshop. 

Ludwig Yehuda Wolpert (1900-1981), an Israeli designer, silversmith and artist, born in Heidelberg, Germany, to a poor orthodox family. As a child, he suffered from abuse by his peers due to his family's Lithuanian origin and because he was born with a cleft lip and palate. Following the presentation of his works in the 1930 exhibition "Ritual and Form" in Berlin, his work became well-known. His works were greatly influenced by Modernist design, especially the Bauhaus movement, avoiding decoration and using clean, geometric shapes.

In 1933, following the Nazi rise to power in Germany, he immigrated to the Eretz Yisrael with his family. There, he worked in the B. Friedland Workshop, designing silver tableware. Together with Victor Solomon Reese he made the sculpture "The Flying Camel", the symbol of the "Levant Fair", under the architect Aryeh Elhanani.

In 1935 he began teaching at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, where he headed the Department of Metal together with jeweler David Heinz Gumbel. Wolpert placed an emphasis on the use of Hebrew calligraphy in Jewish ceremonial art. In addition to his teaching, he continued to create modern Judaica at the school’s workshop. In 1942 he established an independent workshop in Jerusalem. In 1956, Wolpert moved to the United States, where he headed the Tobe Pascher Workshop for Modern Jewish Art at the Jewish Museum in New York City.

His well-known works include the Seder Plate and Cup (1929), the 12 Tribes Railing (1940) in the building of the Law Faculty of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Torah Mantle (1949) that was given to American President Harry Truman by Chaim Weizmann, a gate of the Weizmann Institute for Science (1951-1952) and more.

The aesthetic principles espoused by the Bauhaus Movement of the 1920s - that form and function are interdependent, that quality design should be aimed at mass production,   and that decoration was forbidden - were considered radical by many. 

Ludwig Wolport was the first silversmith that applied these progressive principles to the making of ritual Jewish art. His Seder plate is his masterpiece, its design adequately reflecting the ideas espoused by the Bauhaus Movement.   

Diameter of plate: 32 cm. Its height: 10 cm. Its weight: 4.85 kg. pure silver. 

A most important item, fit for a museum collection. 

 

Provenance: The Bloch Family Collection, Melbourne-Australia.

Condition:	Like new
Weight:	4.85 kg
Measurement:	32 x 10 cm