Bidspirit auction | 'Nathan the Wise' - Hand-Colored

'Nathan the Wise' - Hand-Colored Ceramic Figurine. Germany ca. 1849 - Polychrome ceramic figurine of the historical figure of Nathan the Wise.  Nathan the Wise (from German: Nathan der Weise) is a play by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, in important German playwright in the period of the Enlightenment. The play, which was published in 1779, introduces an ideological drama inspired by the Enlightenment denouncing religious narrow-mindedness and celebrating tolerance and friendship between the religions, especially between Judaism and Christianity. The play also stresses that religious revelation is not the only source of true wisdom, that all religions are equal, each being a unique attempt to know G-d, and that human mind, rather than the Christian belief, is the guarantee for good and progress.   The play was considered a turning point in the attitude of German culture to the Jews, who were described until then as evil and despicable because of the rejection of Christianity. Secularization and Enlightenment enabled, for the first time, to acknowledge them as potential candidates for equality of rights.  The call to integrate Jews into the Christian-German fabric of life led many to object to the play. The Church forbade the play to be performed in Lessing's lifetime. 150 years later, the Nazis also banned the play alongside another work by Lessing: Die Juden (The Jews).  Provenance: The Bloch Family Collection, Melbourne-Australia.