Casket with Zodiac Signs and Other Motifs

The entire surface of this small wooden casket is covered with carved decoration. Zodiac signs in roundels surrounded by decorative motifs range along the front and back. There are single birds carved on the end panels, and four of the five cover panels are filled with vine scrolls inhabited by human and animal figures. The fifth panel bears a mnemonic Hebrew inscription that signifies the blessing over circumcision, and the date, [5]498 (=1737/38). This inscription, as well as the evidence of structural alteration, together with the present contents of the box, shows that the casket was transformed into a container for circumcision implements during the eighteenth century. The remaining reliefs indicate that the box had another, prior use.
In shape and decoration, this work belongs to a group of late medieval caskets called Minnekästchen or Briefladen, which were given as love gifts, wedding presents, or New Year's gifts. Guilds and fraternal societies used similar boxes to hold important documents. The size, form, and decoration of The Jewish Museum box are closest to a painted Minnekästchen dated about 1300. However, the style of the carving of The Jewish Museum casket suggests a later date, about 1550.
The zodiac signs are the key to understanding the original purpose of the casket. When viewed from the front, the sequence starts with Libra, the sign for Tishri, the first month of the Jewish year. Further, the cycle reads from right to left, the way Hebrew is read, and nearly all the signs shown in profile are oriented from right to left. This consistency of orientation suggests that the zodiac reliefs were based on the illuminations of a Hebrew manuscript.
Zodiac cycles appear in two types of medieval Hebrew manuscripts: mahzorim (festival prayer books) and haggadot (service books for Passover). In the mahzorim, the cycle is illustrated alongside prayers for dew, and has the meaning of an orderly passage of time through the year, during which God ensures the fertility of the soil. Several later printed books with zodiac cycles contain commentaries to the illustrations, indicating that the cycle expresses the wish for a good year. By beginning the zodiac series with the sign for the first month of the Jewish year, the carver of this casket created a pictorial equivalent to the messages on other Minnekästchen wishing the owner a happy new year.