A Tale of Two Spice Towers: Thoughts on the Problematic Legacy of Jewish Iberia

While the legacy of Sepharad looms large in the contemporary imagination, the verifiable remains of Jewish Iberia are really quite limited. In fact, a recent Times of Israel headline reported: “In Spain’s Jewish museums, almost nothing is actually from Spain.” The apparent contradiction this article reveals in Spain’s Jewish museums might also be extended to other institutions and to publications on Sepharad and its material culture. It is time to re-evaluate some of the objects used to portray Jewish life in Iberia; in fact, we may find that some “Jewish” objects in noted collections may not actually be Jewish at all.

Dr. Harris’s presentation focuses on two spice towers in the collection of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. The first of these has been published as the earliest surviving example and the only one from Sepharad — an attribution that will be questioned. The second is now exhibited as an Italian fifteenth-century spice tower which was later converted into a reliquary. She presents the pair’s shifting identities as a cautionary tale for those seeking an accurate picture of Jewish material culture — in particular, the Sephardic legacy.

About the speaker

Julie Harris (Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, 1989) is a specialist in the art of medieval Iberia and the 2024 Fishman Family Scholar in Jewish Studies at Vassar. She has published widely on ivory carving, the fate of art and architecture during Reconquest warfare, and illuminated Hebrew manuscripts. In 2020, she was awarded a Center for Spain in America fellowship at the Clark Institute for her project on the decorative carpet pages of Iberian Hebrew Bibles. During Spring Break 2025, she co-led Vassar’s Jewish Studies Travel Seminar to Spain.

Sponsored by the Program of Jewish Studies.