Obj. ID: 37520
Sacred and Ritual Objects Hanukkah lamp, The Netherlands, circa 1800
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.
While there are many sheet brass Chanukah lamps originating in the Netherlands, the backplate of this example is quite unusual. The normal working of brass backplates involves repoussé technique with large cut-out openings. This lamp uses very small and apparently punched openings in a pattern formed by the light showing through from the back. The heart motif, which is often used in large size, here forms the small openings. Such sheet brass Dutch lamps, seeming reflecting folk motifs of rural origin, seem to have bee the choice of Ashkenazic Jews in the Netherlands.