Weekly Jewish holiday – Shabbat – concludes on Saturday evening with the Havdalah ceremony, which means "separation" in Hebrew. One of the ritual acts accompanying the ceremony is the smelling of fragrant roots, herbs, or crushed rose petals. They are placed in a decorative spice tower over which a blessing is recited (M. Goldstein, K. Dresdner, Kultura i sztuka ludu żydowskiego na ziemiach polskich, Lwów 1935, pp. 40–41). The scent of the herbs is symbolically meant to invigorate the body that has been left by the additional Shabbat soul (Hebrew: neshamah yeteirah). It is also believed to help the faithful cope with the hardships of the coming week. The forms of spice towers have changed over different periods but with the preservation of traditional designs - – they usually had the shape of towers, buildings or boxes.
The besamim box from the collection of the Vistula Museum in Kazimierz Dolny is in the shape of a tower. It has a four-sided base in the form of a frame composed of four circular segments with filigree patterns, supported on four hemispherical legs. The stem is made of four rods fastened together in the middle with a rosette. The herb container is in the shape of a cube with filigree walls and a door, with a wide tape at the bottom. There is a pyramidal, filigree roof with a rosette, topped with a spire with a flag.
The item was purchased for the collection of the Museum of Goldsmithing Art (a branch of the Vistula Museum in Kazimierz Dolny) in 1983.