Besomim (spice) container
Chicago, Illinois, USA, c1970
Ivory, silver, ebony, coral; h 49.5 cm, w 34 cm

This wonderfully conceived spice container for havdalah consists of a unique bouquet design by Maurice Spertus, the founder of the Spertus Museum of Judaica in Chicago and the late father of Lisa Gross. His conception was based on the flower-form spice containers, generally from the Ukraine. He felt that if such containers normally consisted of one flower, he wanted to make a bouquet so that every participant in the havdalah ceremony could take part with his own "flower."