Decorative Passover Plate – Heinrich Schwed – Munich, 1924

Decorative Passover Plate – Heinrich Schwed – Munich, 1924
Decorative Passover plate by Heinrich Schwed. Munich, 1924.
Brass, etched.
Large plate, featuring a round medallion in the center, with a Matzah, surrounded by quotes from the Haggadah – "This is the bread of affliction" and "Why is this night different." The medallion forms the center of a four-pointed star, bearing the following inscriptions: "For Passover, " "But G-d delivers us from their hands, " "One kid, one kid, " "Next year in Jerusalem." Four cartouches lie between the points of the star, two of them featuring the Four Sons mentioned in the Haggadah. Moses is depicted in the third cartouche, captioned "Moses, my servant" and surrounded by a verse from the Song of the Sea – "I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously." David is portrayed in the fourth cartouche, alongside a verse from Psalms – "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them, " with the caption "David." Two additional quotations from the Haggadah piyyutim are etched at the base of these last two cartouches: "And it came to pass at midnight" and "To Him it is fitting, to Him it is due". The lip of the plate is decorated with vegetal and geometric motifs. The number 17 is engraved on the base of the plate.
The plate is signed by the artist: "Chaim son of Mordechai HaLevi" (Hebrew); "Munich 1924, H. Schwed."
Heinrich Schwed (1880-1962) was born in Reichmannsdorf, Germany. In 1924, he opened in Munich a shop for the trade of handcrafted items, followed by a craft workshop. Schwed continued producing decorative plates, advertising signs and other items until 1937, when his business was Aryanized by the Nazis and he himself escaped Germany with his family and found refuge in Argentina.
Diameter: 40 cm. Some stains. Minor soldering repairs on base.