Confraternity cup (Havra) from Bohemia

This large confraternity cup was used at the annual banquet of the Hevra Kaddisha, the funerary confraternity responsible for washing the dead and escorting burials, which traditionally met on the 7th day of the month of Adar. A collective and commemorative object, it sealed the solidarity of members around a work considered an act of disinterested charity. In Bohemia and Moravia, these enamelled glass cups are painted with scenes of funeral procession, the washing of the dead or burial, accompanied by commemorative inscriptions and the names of the confraternity members. They constitute precious testimony of the associative life and death rites in the communities of Central Europe.