"Judith", cast ceramic relief made by Boris Schatz. Signed (with monogram: B. S., and with an imprint of the foundry on the reverse) and titled. [Berlin, ca. 1905].
The relief is part of a group of reliefs cast by Schatz in 1905 at the famous "H. Gladenbeck & Sohn" foundry, during his stay in Berlin (at the home of Ephraim Moses Lilien).
The figure of Judith, the beautiful heiress of the Hasmonean dynasty, who, with cunning and courage, saved the lives of her Judean countrymen by slaying Holofernes, the Assyrian general of Nebuchadnezzar's army, appears in several of Schatz's early works. In this relief she is seen in profile, the high-quality casting endowing her features with a powerful expression and her clothes and jewelry with a sumptuous, dignified air.
Relief: 38X64.5 cm, attached with screws to wooden frame: 43.5X71.5 cm. Good condition.
See: Boris Schatz, The Father of Israeli Art, by Yigal Zalmona. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 2006, p. 53 (photographed).