The Gossiping Jews on the Bench – Plasterwork on a wooden plate. Germany or Austria, C. 1900.
The motif of Jews sitting together, exchanging their hidden intentions and planning schemes that non-Jews were not supposed to know about, was the artistic prototype of the antisemitic idea of the “Jewish conspiracy.” The earliest known illustration depicting this scene was made by Thomas Rowlandson in 1808. As a sculptural work, it first appeared on a tobacco tin with a relief of the Three Jews, made in 1820 (in which the three Jews are wearing tricorne hats).
In the second half of the 19th century, this inspired the relief The Jews Sitting on the Bench – three Jews with beards and sidecurls, wearing tall top hats, long coats, and boots, leaning on umbrellas – in some reliefs even bearing the titles “Informers” and “Their Names” with typical Jewish names: Mandelbluh, Afterdut, Finkelstein. The work before us originated with the painter Friedrich August von Kaulbach (1850–1920) who, during a stay in Karlovy Vary, was inspired by the appearance of Jewish spa guests from Eastern Europe, and based on them depicted similar Jewish “types.”
Around 1900, two versions of this work were known – a bronze version, and the plaster version before us.
In the following decades, the motif of the Three Jews appeared frequently on objects, as well as in numerous examples as illustrations with antisemitic overtones on postcards.
See additional examples in the Jewish Museum in Vienna, from the Schlaff Collection.
See also Sotheby’s Tel Aviv, Judaica – 30 October 2002, Lot 64; and Sotheby’s New York, Important Judaica, 16 March 1999, Lot 178.
Diameter: 16.5 cm. On the reverse, a loop for hanging on a wall. Minor defects. Good condition.
