The Jewish Museum in Prague is home to a variety of silver Jewish ritual artifacts, from Kiddush cups, Hanukkah lamps, and Torah decorations, to the dozens of other objects used in observing the commandments. Silver Judaica celebrates this extraordinary collection with full-color illustrations and detailed explanations of each of the museum’s nearly five hundred pieces. Jaroslav Kuntoš covers each artifact in painstaking detail, highlighting the design features that indicate a piece’s date and place of production. Kuntoš compares and contrasts those pieces made by Jews with those made by Christians, explaining how—during the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, the period when a majority of these artifacts were made—Jews were excluded from membership in the guilds, and as a result, many of the ceremonial objects, though used by Jewish communities, were made by non-Jewish manufacturers or artisans on commission. A fascinating survey of superior craftsmanship, Silver Judaica will appeal to students and scholars of art history and religious studies alike.

Jaroslav Kuntoš the curator of the metal collection at the Jewish Museum in Prague.