2000

Emanuele Luzzati

23,5 x 62 x 41 cm

Ceramic pottery from Albisola
Ceramiche Il Tondo, Celle Ligure

In this piece, rabbis serve as containers. Or is it that the containers have been turned in to rabbis? The figures will hold either candles or oil, a reminder that, as teachers, they are repositories of knowledge. The nine figures are arranged rather haphazardly on a single plane. They are fashioned in terracotta, and painted with coloured glazes. It is the classic representation of the rabbi: bearded faces, long robes, black caps that hold the lights, and a tallit – white with blue stripes – draped around each figure’s shoulders. The shamash is represented by the rabbi with a beard that stands further forward in relation to the others.

Other lights from the collection