Vuk Dautović
Vuk Dautović is an art historian from Belgrade, Serbia. He received his BA, M.A., and Ph.D. at the University of Belgrade studying at the Faculty of Philosophy, Art History Department. His doctoral thesis was entitled "Art and Liturgical Ritual: Ecclesiastical objects in Serbian visual culture of the 19th century". His field of research includes the material culture of the early modern period and the visual culture of Southeastern Europe. Vuk Dautović’s primary area of expertise is ecclesiastical art, first and foremost liturgical objects and church utensils. His research revolves around various phenomena related to objects of applied art in the service of rites and ceremonies, from performativity to their agency in transferring cultural models and ideas, and including interactive participation of material objects in cultural dialogues within societies. Another area of his research is related to studies of Jewish visual culture and history in the Balkans, in particular ceremonial art and different manifestations of Sephardic Jewish visual culture.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2528-878X
https://southeasteuropeansilversmithing.wordpress.com/
https://ricontrans-project.eu/vuk-dautovic/
https://jmed.eu/vuk-dautovik/
http://www.f.bg.ac.rs/sr-lat/instituti/csjuk
Phone: +381 11 3206246
Address: Department of Art History
Faculty of Philosophy
University of Belgrade
Čika Ljubina 18-20
1100 Belgrade
Serbia
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2528-878X
https://southeasteuropeansilversmithing.wordpress.com/
https://ricontrans-project.eu/vuk-dautovic/
https://jmed.eu/vuk-dautovik/
http://www.f.bg.ac.rs/sr-lat/instituti/csjuk
Phone: +381 11 3206246
Address: Department of Art History
Faculty of Philosophy
University of Belgrade
Čika Ljubina 18-20
1100 Belgrade
Serbia
less
InterestsView All (71)
Uploads
Monograph Chapters by Vuk Dautović
Relics, liturgical objects and the holy Liturgy Utensils that were present in the church during the medieval period remain unknown to this day. The oldest object related to the monastery’s past is a silver censer from XVI century, manufactured by goldsmith Dmitar. It is likely that pillages and fires during the period of the Ottoman rule contributed greatly to the perishing of the older layer of the monastic treasury. Several of the oldest objects originate from the end of XVIII century according to their artistic characteristics and style.
During XIX century, alongside the restoration of the monastery, movable liturgical objects were acquired which is particularly noticeable in inventories and votive inscriptions on liturgical objects themselves. Votive giving was traditionally one of the important factors influencing the furnishing of the monastery church. For the sake of prayerful remembrance, monks, priests and believers donated to the Monastery of St. Prohor Pcinjski: Gospels, crosses, tabernacles, chalices, spoons, katapetasmas, icon lamps and candleholders.
In the beginning of XX century, a shift in the manner of manufacturing and supplying liturgical objects, vestments and mobile property to Serbian churches is noticeable in objects preserved from this period which mostly originated from larger supply shops supplying a very wide territory, such as Ivkovic’s shop from Novi Sad. After World War II, mobile monastic goods witnessed the greatest devastation during the last decade of XX century, when a significant number of objects which were previously scientifically studied disappeared from the monastery and their location was never determined.
The artistic characteristics of objects in monastery’s treasury can be tracked primarily through objects manufactured in the end of XVIII and during the end of XIX century by Balkan smiths, specifically through: silver reliquaries and reliquary cases, crosses and chalices, tabernacles, censers, icon lamps and candle holders, mostly shaped under the influence of Levant Baroque. They should be joined with zoographically painted wooden reliquaries used to contain the holy remains. A special group consists of imported objects such as Russian and Ukrainian Gospels which were regularly used for liturgical purposes and which still remain in the Monastery of St. Prohor Pcinjski. In the beginning of XX century, the monastery church was supplied with new liturgical objects which were made in accordance with schemes for serial production and which mostly originated from domestic specialized workshops and shops of church utensils. The complete pool of objects also includes objects manufactured by craftsmen from neighbouring areas. The preserved treasury material mirrors the shift of cultural models intrinsic to the Balkan area. A very important object is the silver bishop’s staff of Skopje Metropolitan Josif, manufactured in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as work of a mature domestic workshop for arts and crafts, which should be added to Metropolitan archpriest vestment, also created in Serbian surroundings in the period between wars.
The treasury pool of the Monastery of St. Prohor Pčinjski, chronologically tied to the previous two centuries, witnesses to the full extent about the continuity of liturgical life in the monastery and manners of visually shaping the conduct of services through supporting objects, but also through cult worship of saints as important aspects of the knowledge of newer monastery history and its visual culture.
Papers by Vuk Dautović
has not been sufficiently studied. At the beginning of the 19th century Užice was the second biggest town in Serbia, after Belgrade, up until the withdrawal of the Ottomans from here. Before the big fire of 1862, over twenty silversmiths worked in the old bazaar of Užice together with numerous journeymen and assistants. The most prominent members of Belgrade’s silversmith guild in the 19th century, such as Nikola Stojisiljević and Teofan Jevtović, are from Užice. The existence of a powerful silversmith guild in Užice is documented by the traces of material culture. Silversmiths Sreten Petrović and Andrija Pejić, whose silver objects have been preserved at churches as well, presented their works at the big 1900 Paris Exposition and so did Nedeljko Vujadinović and Luka Todorović. Liturgical objects made of artistically crafted silver have been collected at Užice’s older Church of Saint Mark from the early 19th century and at the Church of Saint George built during the 1840s. The silverware of Užice churches reflects different social and cultural trends, as well as the economic and cultural transformation of the town.
was engaged in the artistic design and distribution of antimension graphics in the middle of the 19th century. His role in appropriating the eighteenth-century iconographic pattern rendered in Vienna for the Metropolitanate of Karlovci was completely unknown until now. Recently discovered antimensia with the signature of Anastas Jovanović, printed in Vienna for the Eparchy of Timok, are preserved in the Eparchy of Niš. These liturgical objects are the direct examples of the artistic production of the Viennese workshop of Anastas Jovanović. Numerous antimensia created in the second half of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th attest that Anastas Jovanović was responsible for the appropriation and dissemination of the late baroque graphic model of Georg Nikolaj. His academic education and attitude towards the decorative arts were informed by the era of historicism. Thus, the magnificence of the baroque model suited the artistic currents of the second half of the 19th century. The antimensia of Anastas Jovanović links the earlier model with its mass reproduction almost a century later. Hence, the newly discovered antimension graphics expand our previous knowledge about the activities of Anastas Jovanović in the field of church art.
Кључне речи: црквена уметност, кујунџилук и златарство, богослужбе-ни предмети, материјална култура, јужна Србија, Нишавска епархија, Пирот, XIX век
Abstract: The role of silversmiths and goldsmiths who were active in developed trading towns such as Pirot is important for getting a good view at the Balkan visual culture and ecclesiastical art of the 19 th century. The authentic corpus of artistic objects created for the needs of the church at the workshops of the town's local silversmiths and goldsmiths belongs to the urban material culture creating a link with the daily life and its profane objects preserved in small numbers. The pieces made by masters from Pirot include the silver cover for Gospels consisting of variously shaped metal fittings, massive silver chalices with patens, blessing crosses, rhipidions, silver plates and antidoron bowls, wedding crowns, as well as votive silver fittings for icons. A particular group of the objects consists of the works made by local goldsmiths from the end of the 19 th century who sometimes appear also as their donors. The artistic characteristics of the said objects suggest continuous cherishing of the Baroque models under the influence of the 18 th-century goldsmithery. The objects created at the workshops of Pirot constitute a continuation of the tradition of the Christian arts of the Balkans and the Levant. From the period of the Tanzimat reforms to WWI, the masters from Pirot made representative ecclesiastical silver the basic visual characteristic of which was consistent cherishing of the late Baroque tradition and absence of historic styles. The objects from the urban churches of Pirot and its direct environs represent artistic trends and social dynamics in the south regions of Serbia during the 19 th century and in the first decades of the 20 th century.
Relics, liturgical objects and the holy Liturgy Utensils that were present in the church during the medieval period remain unknown to this day. The oldest object related to the monastery’s past is a silver censer from XVI century, manufactured by goldsmith Dmitar. It is likely that pillages and fires during the period of the Ottoman rule contributed greatly to the perishing of the older layer of the monastic treasury. Several of the oldest objects originate from the end of XVIII century according to their artistic characteristics and style.
During XIX century, alongside the restoration of the monastery, movable liturgical objects were acquired which is particularly noticeable in inventories and votive inscriptions on liturgical objects themselves. Votive giving was traditionally one of the important factors influencing the furnishing of the monastery church. For the sake of prayerful remembrance, monks, priests and believers donated to the Monastery of St. Prohor Pcinjski: Gospels, crosses, tabernacles, chalices, spoons, katapetasmas, icon lamps and candleholders.
In the beginning of XX century, a shift in the manner of manufacturing and supplying liturgical objects, vestments and mobile property to Serbian churches is noticeable in objects preserved from this period which mostly originated from larger supply shops supplying a very wide territory, such as Ivkovic’s shop from Novi Sad. After World War II, mobile monastic goods witnessed the greatest devastation during the last decade of XX century, when a significant number of objects which were previously scientifically studied disappeared from the monastery and their location was never determined.
The artistic characteristics of objects in monastery’s treasury can be tracked primarily through objects manufactured in the end of XVIII and during the end of XIX century by Balkan smiths, specifically through: silver reliquaries and reliquary cases, crosses and chalices, tabernacles, censers, icon lamps and candle holders, mostly shaped under the influence of Levant Baroque. They should be joined with zoographically painted wooden reliquaries used to contain the holy remains. A special group consists of imported objects such as Russian and Ukrainian Gospels which were regularly used for liturgical purposes and which still remain in the Monastery of St. Prohor Pcinjski. In the beginning of XX century, the monastery church was supplied with new liturgical objects which were made in accordance with schemes for serial production and which mostly originated from domestic specialized workshops and shops of church utensils. The complete pool of objects also includes objects manufactured by craftsmen from neighbouring areas. The preserved treasury material mirrors the shift of cultural models intrinsic to the Balkan area. A very important object is the silver bishop’s staff of Skopje Metropolitan Josif, manufactured in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as work of a mature domestic workshop for arts and crafts, which should be added to Metropolitan archpriest vestment, also created in Serbian surroundings in the period between wars.
The treasury pool of the Monastery of St. Prohor Pčinjski, chronologically tied to the previous two centuries, witnesses to the full extent about the continuity of liturgical life in the monastery and manners of visually shaping the conduct of services through supporting objects, but also through cult worship of saints as important aspects of the knowledge of newer monastery history and its visual culture.
has not been sufficiently studied. At the beginning of the 19th century Užice was the second biggest town in Serbia, after Belgrade, up until the withdrawal of the Ottomans from here. Before the big fire of 1862, over twenty silversmiths worked in the old bazaar of Užice together with numerous journeymen and assistants. The most prominent members of Belgrade’s silversmith guild in the 19th century, such as Nikola Stojisiljević and Teofan Jevtović, are from Užice. The existence of a powerful silversmith guild in Užice is documented by the traces of material culture. Silversmiths Sreten Petrović and Andrija Pejić, whose silver objects have been preserved at churches as well, presented their works at the big 1900 Paris Exposition and so did Nedeljko Vujadinović and Luka Todorović. Liturgical objects made of artistically crafted silver have been collected at Užice’s older Church of Saint Mark from the early 19th century and at the Church of Saint George built during the 1840s. The silverware of Užice churches reflects different social and cultural trends, as well as the economic and cultural transformation of the town.
was engaged in the artistic design and distribution of antimension graphics in the middle of the 19th century. His role in appropriating the eighteenth-century iconographic pattern rendered in Vienna for the Metropolitanate of Karlovci was completely unknown until now. Recently discovered antimensia with the signature of Anastas Jovanović, printed in Vienna for the Eparchy of Timok, are preserved in the Eparchy of Niš. These liturgical objects are the direct examples of the artistic production of the Viennese workshop of Anastas Jovanović. Numerous antimensia created in the second half of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th attest that Anastas Jovanović was responsible for the appropriation and dissemination of the late baroque graphic model of Georg Nikolaj. His academic education and attitude towards the decorative arts were informed by the era of historicism. Thus, the magnificence of the baroque model suited the artistic currents of the second half of the 19th century. The antimensia of Anastas Jovanović links the earlier model with its mass reproduction almost a century later. Hence, the newly discovered antimension graphics expand our previous knowledge about the activities of Anastas Jovanović in the field of church art.
Кључне речи: црквена уметност, кујунџилук и златарство, богослужбе-ни предмети, материјална култура, јужна Србија, Нишавска епархија, Пирот, XIX век
Abstract: The role of silversmiths and goldsmiths who were active in developed trading towns such as Pirot is important for getting a good view at the Balkan visual culture and ecclesiastical art of the 19 th century. The authentic corpus of artistic objects created for the needs of the church at the workshops of the town's local silversmiths and goldsmiths belongs to the urban material culture creating a link with the daily life and its profane objects preserved in small numbers. The pieces made by masters from Pirot include the silver cover for Gospels consisting of variously shaped metal fittings, massive silver chalices with patens, blessing crosses, rhipidions, silver plates and antidoron bowls, wedding crowns, as well as votive silver fittings for icons. A particular group of the objects consists of the works made by local goldsmiths from the end of the 19 th century who sometimes appear also as their donors. The artistic characteristics of the said objects suggest continuous cherishing of the Baroque models under the influence of the 18 th-century goldsmithery. The objects created at the workshops of Pirot constitute a continuation of the tradition of the Christian arts of the Balkans and the Levant. From the period of the Tanzimat reforms to WWI, the masters from Pirot made representative ecclesiastical silver the basic visual characteristic of which was consistent cherishing of the late Baroque tradition and absence of historic styles. The objects from the urban churches of Pirot and its direct environs represent artistic trends and social dynamics in the south regions of Serbia during the 19 th century and in the first decades of the 20 th century.
Serbian Church metropolitan Mihailo looked up to the Russian Church in various aspects, hence after his
enthronement he took over antimensions of the Russian Synod, breaking the practice of the use of the Serbian
printed baroque antimensions. The new antimensions of the Russian Synodic typography were designed
to replace the anachronic baroque antimensions. The most prominent Russian artists and the Synod of the
Russian Church participated in the process of creation and harmonization of their product with the currents
of historical Orthodox theology. The pictorial formulation of these antimensions, created by Fedor Grigorievich Solntsev in 1856, was shaped in accordance with the interpretation of the Russian-Byzantine style
created during the historicism époque, and its steel stereotype was engraved by the artist Konstantin Yakovlevich Afanas’ev. The final version of the Synodic antimension was shaped and engraved by the Russian
academic xylographer Lavrentiy Avksent’evich Seryakov in 1866. The antimension printed from the stereotype made by Solntsev and Afanas’ev and consecrated by metropolitan Mihailo in 1863 is the part of
the collection of the Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade. The antimensions printed from
the cliché engraved by Seryakov in 1866 are preserved in the Cathedral church of Vranje (from 1867), the
Museum of Macedonia in Skopje (from 1892), and Cathedral church of Negotin (from 1894). The tradition
of metropolitan Mihailo was also followed by Serbian Patriarch Varnava (Rosić), who consecrated the
Russian antimensions printed from the Seryakov’s cliché in the 1930s. Besides the abovementioned and
described Russian antimensions, a variation of the stereotype created by F. G. Solntsev together with engraver Afanas’ev, appeared in the wider Balkan area and it was printed in the lithographic printing houses
in Constantinople and Sofia. The central composition of the Entombment of Christ retained the previous
distribution and number of the figures, while the angels are omitted and on the left-hand side the figures
of the myrrh-bearing women are depicted in their places and on the right-hand side there is an angel on a
stone plate beside the empty grave. A realistic landscape was created in this way, instead of the previously used neutral background with rays of light. This narrative type of the scene was shaped under the influence of Palestinian antimension iconography of the XVIII century in the spirit of Orthodox puritanism. This
type of the antimension can be found in the Balkans and it was printed for the needs of various Orthodox
Churches from Bulgaria to Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (Fig. 6). By attributing the country of
origin and the author, and also by pointing out the assumptions according to which the antimensions used
in the Serbian Church during the second half of the XIX century were shaped, a clearer image is created
about the artistic currents and dynamics of shaping the visual culture of this period, thus establishing a
firmer base for understanding the current artistic phenomena at the end of the XIX century.
Keywords: antimension, metropolitan Mihailo (Jovanović, 1826-1898), Russia, church art, XIX century.
AND FURTHER DIRECTIONS
In recent decades there has been a significant change in
observing art and culture of the Balkans. One of the current issues is
the study of visual culture of the Balkans. While in the Balkan
countries the national historiographies still dominate, it is becoming
quite obvious that the common social, political, artistic and cultural
frameworks influence the creation of all forms of cultural life in
entire Balkans. The Ottoman Empire, in which had lived majority of
Balkan nations; formation of a Yugoslav state, as well as the similarity
of political systems in Southeastern Europe all together have resulted
in establishing a common Balkan culture. In these processes, visual
culture has had a prominent place because it contributed to the
creation of private and collective identity, and represents one of the
most powerful communication tools between different ethnic,
religious and social communities.
Nenad Makuljević
Department of Art History
Faculty of Philosophy
Belgrade University
Institute of Art Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Sofia
The term "silversmithing" refers to the artistic production and manufacturing of silverware made of precious metals. Silversmithing also implies the various processes used in its shaping, as in the case of wrought articles of silverware, and in decorating the metal, such as by embossing, chasing, engraving, enameling, or using a filigree technique. The artistic shaping of the silver alloy is carried out by a trained master craftsman qualified as a silversmith. Through the centuries, the term "goldsmith" has always been understood to mean a worker in both gold and silver, although the term "silversmith" may also refer to a worker in both silver and gold. Both terms have often been applied without distinction to those who worked in either field. Typically, a silversmith will aim to create larger-scale work for functional or decorative purposes, like tableware, flatware, functional vessels, and ecclesiastical pieces. Silversmiths have usually been classified according to the type of pieces they make, the main groups being the large-workers and the small-workers. The conference on "Southeast European Silversmithing" encompasses the artistic production of sacral silver objects and different related phenomena.
Friday 4 November 2022 from 09:00 AM
The Rectorate Building – University of Belgrade
Studentski trg 1, (1 The Students` Square)
Saturday 5 November 2022 from 09:00 AM
Faculty of Philosophy – University of Belgrade
Čikа Ljubinа 18-20, (18-20 Čika Ljubina Street)
Southeast European Silversmithing
4 – 5.11.2022, Belgrade
The conference on Southeast European Silversmithing aims to gather researchers dedicated to the study of sacral silver objects from the early modern period who will, through their research and work, contribute to the comparative analysis of this complex field. Material presented at the conference will contribute to the objective of improving methodological means of interpretation through the gathering of devoted researchers working in this area. The conference will enable the presentation of, thus far unpublished and unknown to the academic community, artistic silver objects. We believe that a more meticulous approach to this field of research will represent a valuable contribution to the field of art history and to a more comprehensive understanding of the visual culture of the specified period.
Na beogradskom Novom groblju, izgrađeno je i uređeno, nakon Prvog svetskog rata, groblje poginulih austrijskih i mađarskih vojnika uz francusko, englesko, italijansko, rusko i bugarsko, te obeležja koja memorišu nacionalne žrtve Spomen kosturnicu branilaca Beograda i spomenik Jevrejima palim od 1912. do 1919. godine, čineći zajedno korpus vojničkih memorijala u slavu palih ratnika. Formiranjem ovih groblja i podizanjem spomenika, proizvedena je tradicija zvaničnih mesta sećanja na kojima se državnim ceremonijalima odavala počast stradalima, zatvarajući tako poglavlje Velikog rata.
Spomen groblje austrijskih i mađarskih vojnika poginulih u periodu od 1914. do 1918. godine, posvećeno sećanju na okupacionu vojsku, koncipirano je kao idejno složen memorijalni topos. Groblje se sastoji od centralne kapele okružene monumentalnom kolonadom stubova, izdignutih na kružni plato kome se pristupa stepeništem ispred koga su grobovi neznanih vojnika uz dve zajedničke kosturnice poginulih sa područja Beograda. U uobličavanju ove celine istaknutu ulogu imao je mađarski vajar Péter Gémes Gindert, školovan na minhenskoj likovnoj akademiji, koji je klesao kamene reljefe sa kapele i centralnog polja unutar kolonade stubova koji je okružuju. Ovaj artificirani prostor sećanja, retko je sačuvano groblje okupacione vojske, osmišljeno kao mesto pamćenja i panteon vojničke slave, oblikovan različitim verbo-vizualnim sredstvima.
On the other hand, in the domain of private memory, most frequently lead by the will of the individual or his family, the military identity of Jews was also emphasized after the wars on their funerary monuments. Primarily the use of military photography, but also stating military ranks and suitable epitaphs which more closely defined the identity and the self of the deceased attest to this practice present at the Jewish cemetery in Belgrade. By distinguishing the deceased as a war participant, before his civil merits, a field of private memory was created where together with the Jewish one, his military identity was emphasized. In this way through the use of well-known formulations of funerary remembrance such as emphasizing the individual’s piety within the community, photography and military ranks as means of visual communication, the part of the Jewish population which through their military merits gained respect both within the community and outside of it after the war was distinguished, thus expanding the field of memory with the new identity of a Jew, participant in the Great War.
The choice of the Central European craftsmen, but also models of representative tombstones whose origins are within the Ashkenazi cultural environment, confirms this type of mutual exchange which also matches the shift in cultural models that was gradually happening during XIX century on the territory of Serbia. Certain practices such as the use of printed Ashkenazi yahrzeit plaques in Sephardic families and the mutual funerary emblems through which the Jewish identity was shown confirm the thesis about strong living bonds and mutual exchange of these two Jewish communities, while modifications of practices attest about the way of their understanding and accepting. The differences between the two Jewish communities in the field of the funerary were gradually unified through the civil code to which they belonged, primarily relying on the criteria of representativeness and the wider funerary culture currents to which they belonged.
Nakon formiranja Kraljevine SHS, dolazi do ujedinjenja svih pravoslavnih mesnih crkava na području novouspostavljenje Kraljevine, i izdizanja u rang patrijaršije, za čijeg je prvog poglavara je izabran dotadašnji arhiepiskop Srbije i mitropolit Beogradski, Dimitrije Pavlović. Srpska pravoslavna crkva prepoznata kao državotvorna verska organizacija, podržavala je dinastiju Karađorđevića kroz klerikalni legitimizam kao i državnu ideju integralnog jugoslovenstva kralja Aleksandra.
Ovakve društvene i političke prilike uticale su na uobličavanje vizuelne kulture i načina reprezentacije Srpske pravoslavne crkve. Nova velika crkveno-kanonska teritorija pod jurisdikcijom patrijarha srpskog, postepeno je unificirana i u liturgijskom smislu kroz opremanje crkava liturgijskim predmetima i bogoslužbenim odeždama, koje su masovno industrijski proizvođene. One su morale odgovarati pre svega kriterijumima pravoslavnosti i doprinositi veličajnosti crkvenog rituala. Razlike u ovim liturgijskim predmetima i tekstilijama koje su postojale u južnim oblastima, primorju, te na prostoru Karlovačke mitropolije, posledica su različitih kulturnih modela i kanonske jurisdikcione prakse na određenom prostoru.
Postupak ujednačavanja vizuelnog identiteta srpske patrijaršije u Kraljevini izvođen je nabavkom predmeta u radionicama specijalizovanim za izradu crkvenih utvari, od kojih je najreprezentativnija ona Nikole Ivkovića iz Novog Sada. Masovno industrijkim postupcima proizvođena crkvena roba, uz zajamčenu pravoslavnost, značajno je odredila vizuelni karakter liturgijskog rituala, i ukupan izgled pravoslavnih crkava u posmatranom periodu. Veliki broj sačuvanih predmeta, te trgovačke knjige i reklamni oglasi, kao i katalozi putem kojih je ova roba nuđena i prodavana ukazuju na istaknuto mesto ovih radionica kao važnog aspekta za proučavanje verske kulture u kraljevini SHS i potonjoj Jugoslaviji.
In the Jewish tradition, great importance is attached to the anniversary date of the death of family members, when a memorial prayer is recited in the synagogue. Before the Second World War, beginning around the second half on XIX century, there existed in the lands of Austro-Hungarian Empire a custom of recording the future Yahrzeit dates on an illustrated printed sheet. This was in order to remind the person of the date on which to go to the synagogue for the saying of Kaddish. In many instances these pages were framed and hung on a wall of the home, a custom that disappeared with Holocaust. Yahrzeit plaques are printed in many different cities in the empire, from which they expand abroad, and were used in other Jewish communities, like Serbian, traditionally Sephardic community, for example.
Yahrzeit plaques, contains in their visual decoration pictures of Holly Land and tombs of Patriarchs, Absalom and Rachel or Ner Neshama, as Jewish identity symbols as well as customized European symbols of sorrow and lamentation. They memorized the deceased person and reminds on importance of Jewish funeral customs, believes and tradition. Trough that, they make influence on different local communities, shaping their visual culture, in accordance with tradition, but using contemporary printing techniques and language of recognizable sorrow pictorial decoration, suitable for its purpose and also understandable for wider community. This sort of annual remembrance trough Serbian communities on the beginning of XX century is used by Ashkenazi Jews as well as Sephardim.""
Važan vid jevrejske vizuelne kulture, kome do sada nije posvećivana znatna pažnja, predstavljaju funerarni spomenici oblikovani i dekorisani prema principima orijentalistički shvaćene arhitekture. Ove reprezentativne grobnice nastale u prvim decenijama XX veka, na sefardskom jevrejskom groblju u Beogradu, svedočanstvo su prihvatanja i aproprijacije ovih ideja u privatno-javnoj sferi, kakva je prostor jevrejskog groblja. Grobnice porodica: Talvi, Alkalaj, Mošić i de Majo, jasno su orijentalistički koncipirane, bez paralela u dotadašnjoj praksi niti širim tokovima funerarne arhitekture na prostoru Beograda. Razmatranje pomenutih grobnica, doprinosi boljem razumevanju veze orijentalizma i iskazivanja jevrejskog identiteta, kao i prihvatanju ovih koncepata od strane istaknutih beogradskih Jevreja.