Lazarus Posen Witwe 800 Fine Silver Reticulated Pedestal Bowl

Product Details

Highly ornamented 800 Fine Silver pedestal fruit bowl, from the silver firm Lazarus Posen Witwe * of Frankfurt and Berlin, Germany, circa 1900.  The pedestal bowl has raised panels of flowers in repousse work on a largely reticulated body, suggesting flowers growing on a trellis.  The underside of the bowl and the flared pedestal foot features a stylized acanthus leaf frieze.  Monogrammed with a single “G” in the center of the bowl.  

714.7 grams.

7 1/2” (19cm) high, 9” (22.9cm) diameter.

$4800.

* Lazarus Posen Witwe (widow) is unique amongst 19th and 20th century German silver manufacturers in that the owner and director was a Jewish woman.  The firm was established in 1869 in Frankfurt by Brendina Wetzlar, the widow of Lazarus Jacob Posen, a silversmith  and retailer of Polish descent.  The firm was the largest supplier of Judaica in Germany in the late 19th century.  Mrs. Posen’s son, Jacob L. Posen joined the firm in 1880, followed by her grandsons, Jakob, Hermann and Moritz Posen.  By 1900 the larger staff of chasers and engravers were producing some of the finest silver goods in Germany.  In 1903 the company received a royal warrant and opened a second location in Berlin.  

The company existed until 1938 when it was forcibly closed during Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass).