Upright, flat brass figure of a left facing Jewish peddler with a hooked nose, a sack over his back, and a 3-dimensional top hat. He is slightly bent over, right leg forward, knee bent. Engraved lines on the figure depict beady eyes, long hair, a full beard, and raised arms holding the sack. He wears a knee-length jacket, trousers, and flat shoes and stands on a low, rectangular base with a beveled side edge.
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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.
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Nineteenth-century brass figure of a Jewish peddler carrying a sack of goods on his back. Peddlers were itinerant vendors who traveled the countryside and sold goods to the public. Peddling was a common occupation for young Jewish men during the 18th and 19th centuries. Most peddlers hoped their hard work would serve as a springboard to more lucrative and comfortable occupations. However, old prejudices formed an antisemitic stereotype of the Jewish peddler. The stereotype originated from the economic and professional restrictions placed on early European Jews. They were barred from owning land, farming, joining trade guilds, and military service. These restrictions limited Jews to the occupations of retail peddling, hawking, and moneylending. Additionally, medieval religious belief held that charging interest (known as usury) was sinful, and the Jews who occupied these professions were looked down upon, predominantly by European Christians. They were perceived as morally deficient and willing to engage in unethical business practices. The inability of Jews to legally hold other occupations, combined with Christians’ disdain for the professions Jews were allowed to practice, helped form the canard of the greedy Jew who exploited Gentiles. This canard was often visually depicted as a Jewish peddler, an untrustworthy figure that sold cut rate items at inflated prices. This figure is one of the more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic artifacts and visual materials.
overall: Height: 6.000 inches (15.24 cm) | Width: 3.250 inches (8.255 cm) | Depth: 1.750 inches (4.445 cm)
Brass figure of a Jewish peddler
The brass figure was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family.