Obj. ID: 37433
Sacred and Ritual Objects Hanukkah lamp, Sefrou (Séfrou), circa 1900
The following description was prepared by William Gross:
The Festival of Chanukah is celebrated in the winter period around December and commemorates a Biblical story in which the Jews of the Land of Israel rebel against the Greek occupiers. They reclaim the desecrated Holy Temple in Jerusalem and, miraculously, the small amount of pure oil remaining is enough to keep the Temple light going for eight days. Lamps with eight burners are lit during this holiday, both in the synagogue and at home. Through the centuries, such lamps have taken a wide variety of forms.
Almost all Chanukah lamps made in North Africa are either of artisan worked sheet brass or of sand cast brass. This fine casting with deeply worked surface decoration was probably cast in Sefrou. On this type of casting is sometimes found paint, as in this example in which the residue of such paint is found in the deeper parts of the decoration on the surface. As with many such Moroccan lamps birds are found on the upper section.