Cast bronze figurine in the shape of a small bust, depicting a comical, wicked caricature of a Jewish man's face. The face has a large hooked nose, large ears, and hooded eyes; all stereotypical physical features commonly attributed to Jewish men. The face has a wicked smile, likely meant to portray Jews as depraved and evil. The conical shape of the man’s head may be a mocking reference to the Phyrygian (also called a pileus cornutus), a cone-shaped hat that Jews were forced to wear to identify themselves as Jewish in the Holy Roman Empire. Since the fourth century, Jews have been persecuted and demonized. They have been associated with and called"children of the devil" accused of deicide, treacherous conspiracies, and treasonous acts by influential figures and archaic Christian beliefs. These defamations are often visually depicted through antisemitic or malevolent features and characteristics, such as horns and cloven feet. They have also been depicted with distorted facial features, including bulging eyes and large or hooked noses. The figurine resembles the design of a porcelain match holder produced by the Schafer and Vater Porcelain Factory in Volkstedt Rudolstadt, Thuringia, Germany. The company was established in 1890, and by 1910, their goods were distributed in the United States by Sears Roebuck Company. This bronze figurine is one of more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic visual materials.
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Bronze figurine in the shape of a Jewish man's head
The bronze figurine was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family.
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Cast bronze match holder in the shape of an ugly, exaggerated caricature of a man's head. It has an oversized mouth open in a contorted grin with a row of 6 even top front teeth. The bald head is an elongated oval shape with a tall wrinkled forehead and a top hat with flat straight sides. It has Jewish features distorted to create an image both comical and devilish: thick, arched eyebrows over hooded eyes, with the left one a wide open staring circle, a large hooked nose, and big, thick ears that stick out absurdly far. He wears a bow tie, a rough textured shirt, and a jacket with a notched lapel. The holder is hollow with an open bottom.
overall: Height: 4.000 inches (10.16 cm) | Width: 2.625 inches (6.668 cm) | Depth: 2.250 inches (5.715 cm)
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.