Search

A pair of engravings depicting a Jewish funeral (top) and a Jewish burial (bottom). The top engraving shows the hakafoth, a series of seven processions, around the coffin. The bottom engraving shows a group of attendants filling a grave with dirt.

A pair of engravings depicting the brit milah (ritual circumcision) (top) and the pidyon haben (redemption of the firstborn son) (bottom). The top engraving shows the family of the infant gathered as the rabbi oversees the proceedure. The bottom engraving shows the family of the child gathered around as the father presents the first-born son to the kohen (a priest directly descended from Aaron).

An engraving depicting assorted instruments for the brit milah (Jewish ritual circumcision) (top) and a Torah scroll witht he related trappings, including finials for the ends, a fabric wrap for a closed roll, an ornate cloth mantle to cover the closed scroll, a pointer, and a box holding chits with the names of members of the synagogue to be drawn for aliyot (divided into groups based on status).

A pair of engravings depicting Jewish weddings in Portugal (top) and Germany (bottom). The Portugese wedding shows a gathering indoors, the bride sitting beneath a canopy on a dais as the groom raises a glass to toss it down and break. The German wedding shows a gathering outdoors, the bride and groom trading rings beneath a tallit as the rabbi guides them.

A pair of engravings depicting the celebration of Simchat Torah, including the procession of the Torah scrolls around the synagogue, carried by the Chatan Torah.

A pair of engravings depicting the daily recitation of the Hoshanot during Sukkot (top) and a Jewish family sharing a meal in their sukkah during the Sukkot festival. The top engraving shows worshippers processing around the synagogue carrying the four Holy Species (palm frond, myrtle, willow branch, and citron) as they recite the Hoshanot. The bottom engraving shows a Jewish family sharing a meal in an elaborately decorated sukkah, with the sukkah of another family in the background.

An engraving depicting a group of German Jews performing physical penitence within the synagogue, theoretically in observance of Yom Kippur. Two men are shown whipping two other men while a fifth man to the right is removing his coat, presumably to take his turn. Other men are shown around the synagogue reading the Torah while wearing tallitot.

A pair of engravings depicting the observance of Rosh Hashanah (top) and Yom Kippur (bottom). The top engraving depicts the sounding of the shofar during the celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the new year. The bottom engraving depicts a gathering of Jews in reflection on the past year, repenting their sins and asking forgiveness in observance of Yom Kippur.

A pair of engravings depicting a Jewish family preparing for (top) and observing (bottom) Passover. The top engraving shows the family searching for and removing any remaining leaven in the kitchen in preparation for Passover. The bottom engraving shows the family sitting down around a table and participating in a Seder dinner.

A pair of engravings depicting a kohen (priest descended directly from Aaron) reciting prayers in the synagogue (top) and a rabbi lifting the Torah scroll for the gathered worshipers to see (bottom). The top engraving shows the kohen on the right with worshipers gathered around wearing tallitot and is labeled as "Synagogue des Juifs Portugais a la Haye" (the Synagogue of the Portuguese Jews in the Hague). The bottom engraving shows a gathering of Jewish worhipers, most wearing tallitot, looking on as a rabbi raises the Torah scroll.

An engraving depicting liturgical objects associated with Jewish religious practice, including a tallit katan (prayer shawl), tassels, a Sabbath lamp, matsah, the Four Species (a palm frond, brnaches from a myrtle and a willow tree and a citron, waved during the celebration of the harvest festival Sukkot), a shofar (a ram’s horn blown on the holidays of Rosh Hoshanah andYom Kippur), and a mezuzah (a scroll with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah, placed on doorposts of Jewish homes).

An engraving depicting elements of Jewish ritual garments, including a Jewish prayer shawl with tassels (top), phylacteries (small black leather boxes including verses from the Torah), and a Jew wearing both for worship (bottom right).

A series of four engravings depicting aspects of religious rituals and practices from ancient Mediterranean cultures, including Greek, Roman, and Egyptian. The engraving on the top right depicts a supplicant praying before a temple of Pomona, the Latin and Roman goddess of fruit trees, gardens, and orchards, who is depicted to the supplicant's left.

The title page of Histoire générale des cérémonies, moeurs, et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde, featurnig an engraving depicting, clockwise from the top, Christianity represented by angels surrounding the Bible, bearing the Latin phrase “biblia sacra concilia et traditiones” and a woman holding a communion chalice, Buddhism by two men praying (bottom right), Islam by one man reading the Qu’ran to his suffering companion, and Judaism by a woman reading the Old Testament, as a blindfolded woman with bat wings holds a lantern for her (left).

An engraving depicting a bust of Wenceslas, King of Germany, surrounded by a sword, manacle, and orbis cruciger with a barred window in the background.

An engraving depicting a portrait of Poggio Bracciolini hanging in a window above a stack of books on the windowsill with the city of Florence in the distance.

An engraving depicting a portrait of Pierre de Foix topped with a galero and surrounded by a cherub holding an olive branch and leaning on a column above a multi-headed dragon that has been decapitated. There is an inscription at the bottom reading, "Il finit le Schisme et donna la paix au Siege de Rome."

An engraving depicting a bust of Jan Žižka atop a column featuring a laurel wreath. The figure is wearing armor and a helmet with a partial eyepatch.

An engraving depicting a portrait of John Wycliffe framed in a laurel wreath with a pile of books and papers being burned, representing the declaration by the Council of Constance that his works should be burned.

An engraving depicting a portrait of Jerome of Prague with a fire built below the portrait, the flames catching along the sides and frame in reference to his execution by burning at the stake.

An engraving depicting a portrait of Jean Gerson placed above a pen and ink well, a galero, a dog, a book, and a crest featuring a cherub, stars, and moon.