Obj. ID: 37440
Sacred and Ritual Objects Hanukkah lamp, Tetuan, circa 1930
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 Morocco are either of artisan worked sheet brass or of sand cast brass. The use of cast columns in addition to cut and pierced brass sheet identifies this object as from Tetuan, but it is more unusual and much more elaborately fashioned than the normal Chanukah menorah known from this place with the Temple Menorah in the center, as in Gross Family Collection 010.002.062. This piece uses the very traditional Spanish Moroccan designs in the pierced-work technique, in addition to the two cast elements. The central decorative element is one found in both religious and secular building in carved plaster and wood. This example is a particularly elegant and sophisticated design among Morrocan Chanukah lamps.
sub-set tree:
O | Ornamentation: | Foliate and floral ornaments | Floral motif
B | Branch
O | Ornamentation: | Ornament
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