Passover Kiddush Cup by Silversmith Antonius Jacobus Hendricus de Ruiter – With Depictions of the Passover Seder – ...

Passover Kiddush Cup by Silversmith Antonius Jacobus Hendricus de Ruiter – With Depictions of the Passover Seder – Amsterdam, 1881

Silver, turned, engraved, and soldered.
Hallmarks: · Maker's mark – Antonius Jacobus Hendricus de Ruiter, active in Amsterdam, 1874-1900; · Dutch fineness mark; · Silver inspector (Assay Office); · Year mark.
Flat-bottomed kiddush cup, tapering upward toward the rim. Surface divided into four bands, engraved with thirteen illustrations of the customary proceedings of the traditional Passover seder. Engraved within the borders separating the bands and inscribed in square Hebrew letters are the fourteen elements in the order of events that make up the seder ("Kadesh", "Urchatz", "Karpas", "Yachatz", etc.).
The illustrations on the cup are modeled after woodcuts first published in the "Venice Haggadah". This particular Haggadah – among the earliest illustrated Haggadot to appear in print – was published in Venice in 1609 by Israel ben Daniel HaZifroni of Guastalla in the printing house of Giovanni di Gara.
Two other pieces of Judaica created by De Ruiter are in the collection of the Jewish Museum, Amsterdam: a Torah shield, item no. MB00818; and a single Torah finial, item no. M000122. A similar cup was auctioned by Sotheby's, Tel Aviv, April 1994, lot no. 106.

Height: 12.7 cm. Diameter at upper rim: 8.6 cm. Overall good condition. Minor stains to inside and base of the cup. Tiny blemishes to original soldering at the base of the cup.

Exhibition: Basel, Jewish Museum of Switzerland, item no. JMS 1033.
Provenance:
1. Collection of Solomon David Schloss (1815-1911).
2. Lewis Raphael Castle (1858-1932), son of the above.
3. Peter Castle (1922-2011), grandson of the above.
4. Heirs of the above.
This item appears in the inventory list of the Schloss Collection, dated 1923 (see appendix, pp. 146-148), and is documented in a 1931 collection photograph (see p. 11).