Obj. ID: 38533
Sacred and Ritual Objects  Hanukkah lamp, The Netherlands, circa 1775

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 shows the normal working of brass backplates involving repoussé technique with large cut-out openings. Such sheet brass Dutch lamps, seeming reflecting folk motifs of rural origin, seem to have been the choice of Ashkenazic Jews in the Netherlands. The cut-out brass is a rural form, and the heart-shape reflector is a folk motif quite common in Holland, as are the types of figures depicted on the lamp back.  Such depictions of human figures on Jewish objects are not at all common, yet figures of this type do appear on secular objects in rural Holland.