Pewter Passover Seder Ceremony Plate
date: label: date made
content: 18th century
notes: label: Description
content: This circular pewter plate is engraved for use in the Passover Seder ceremony. The Jewish community celebrates the Seder meal annually in commemoration of the flight of the Israelites from enslavement by the Egyptian Pharaoh as recorded in the Hebrew Bible. The plate is of 18th century German origins. “Priest, Levite, Israelite” is inscribed in Hebrew across the center with a crown and Stars of David as decoration. The Hebrew inscription also references the Engelmeyer family of Baltimore as well as the order of the Seder ceremony. Poverty, persecution, and political disillusionment swept through Central Europe in the early 1800s, causing Jewish immigration to America to swell. The plate was likely brought to Baltimore from either Germany by Solomon L. Engelmeyer (1804 – 1889) or his Prussian wife Hannah (1815 - 1903). They ran a shoe business and became US citizens in 1851. Solomon was the president of the Lloyd Street Congregation between 1851 and 1853. This Seder plate stands as a powerful symbol of the Jewish community’s search for freedom whether from enslavement in ancient Egypt or persecution in Europe during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.
place: label: place made
content: Germany
label: place used
content: United States: Maryland, Baltimore
topic: label: religion association
content: Judaism
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Religion
label: See more items in
content: Many Voices, One Nation
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Miss L. Lieberman
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CL.326825
label: accession number
content: 83695
label: catalog number
content: 326825
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Plate
label: Object Name
content: plate
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: pewter (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 356 mm; x 14 in