The pitcher was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family.
The Katz Ehrenthal Collection is a collection of more than 900 objects depicting Jews and antisemitic and anti-Jewish propaganda from the medieval to the modern era, in Europe, Russia, and the United States. The collection was amassed by Peter Ehrenthal, a Romanian Holocaust survivor, to document the pervasive history of anti-Jewish hatred in Western art, politics and popular culture. It includes crude folk art as well as pieces created by Europe's finest craftsmen, prints and periodical illustrations, posters, paintings, decorative art, and toys and everyday household items decorated with depictions of stereotypical Jewish figures.
Glazed, colorful, porcelain pitcher modeled in the form of a man with a bright red beard and hair, a large, hooked nose, and thick eyebrows. He is seated on a tan-colored base and leans over a small, dark brown box with a domed lid held on his lap. He wears a dark brown, brimmed hat, and a long, green overcoat, with gray breeches. He also wears green knee-high socks, black shoes, and gray, fingerless gloves. Yellow rags or handkerchiefs hang from his side pockets. The top of the hat is an opening for pouring, and a black, narrow, C-shaped handle is attached to his back. The underside is stamped with several lines of English text in black ink, which identify the figure as “Fagin,” and also bear the manufacturer’s information.
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overall: Height: 6.500 inches (16.51 cm) | Width: 2.625 inches (6.668 cm) | Depth: 3.750 inches (9.525 cm)
Toby jug depicting Fagin holding a collection box, made by Wood & Sons for Franklin Porcelain in London, England. Toby jugs were first made in the mid-18th century and are ceramic pitchers usually modeled on full-bodied representations of popular characters. This Toby jug was designed by English cartoonist, Peter Jackson, and one of a set of 12, modeled on popular Charles Dickens' characters. Fagin is portrayed with red hair, a beard, a large nose, thick eyebrows, and hooded eyes; all stereotypical physical features attributed to Jewish men. In “Oliver Twist,” Fagin is the villainous leader of a gang of children whom he has instructed in the ways of criminality. He attempts to corrupt the protagonist, Oliver, in the same manner. In the novel, Fagin is described in his first scene as hunched over a fire holding a toasting fork, imagery that reinforces the antisemitic stereotype of Jewish associations with the devil, due to its resemblance of a pitchfork. He is repeatedly referred to as “the Jew” in the book and also emphasized as a greedy, miserly, and cowardly character; all traits aligning with common antisemitic stereotypes. However, in a later edition of the novel, Dickens reduced his use of “the Jew,” substituting it for pronouns or other phrases. Even in this later version, Fagin is still repeatedly and negatively referred to as “the Jew,” and remains emblematic of multiple antisemitic canards. Later writings by Dickens portrayed Jews in a more positive light, however, the reprehensible Fagin is his most remembered Jewish character. This pitcher is one of the more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic artifacts and visual materials.
Toby Jug of a seated Fagin clutching his treasure box