overall: Height: 7.500 inches (19.05 cm) | Width: 10.500 inches (26.67 cm)
Early 19th century, English cartoon showing a Jewish peddler buying used clothing. The print was published by William Davison of Alnwick, an English printer and pharmacist. The peddler is depicted with several stereotypical physical features commonly attributed to Jewish men: a beard, long sidelocks, and a large nose. Peddlers were itinerant vendors who 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, which 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 print is one of more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic visual materials.
Etching of a Jewish peddler buying a pair of breeches
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.
The print was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family.
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Black-and-white etching printed on a sheet of faded and discolored, off-white paper. The image shows two men standing on the corner of two empty streets lined with long buildings, both with several windows. The man on the right has a beard, long sidelocks, and a large nose, which identify him as a Jew. He is wearing a three-quarter length coat, breeches, stockings, and a wide-brimmed hat. The man on the left wears a suit-style jacket with breeches and a brimmed hat with a tuft on top. The Jewish man is holding a pair of breeches in his outstretched hands, while the other man has his right arm extended with the palm of his hand turned up, waiting for payment. At the far end of one street is a church with a tall spire. Printed below the image is the title and publication information. The paper shows signs of wear, with significant yellowing and minor foxing throughout. There are several small tears and folds along the edges. There is additional foxing on the back, as well as several large, diagonal creases where the paper was previously folded. back, top right, handwritten, pencil: $50 / 11-