Memorial lamp, in memory of Bienvenida de Razon. Ottoman Empire, [1895].
Silver, cut, repoussé, and engraved (unmarked).

Silver memorial lamp, decorated in vegetal patterns characteristic of Jewish ritual objects originating from the Ottoman Empire. Back plate in shape of a pointed arch, with rich decorative patterns framed by a plain border. Lower border engraved with a (Hebrew) dedicatory inscription: "The Late Bienvenida de Razon… 11th of Adar, [1895]…". A broad, rectangular oil pan is soldered onto the bottom of the vertical plate. The oil pan has two pinched spouts soldered onto its two front corners.
The name “Bienvenida de Razon” suggests that this lamp derives from one of the Ladino-speaking communities of the Ottoman Empire and/or the Balkans. Families bearing this surname lived, among other places, in Greece and Turkey. One particular rabbi, Avraham Razon (d. 1910), is known to have resided in Istanbul.

Height: 18 cm. Maximal width: 15.5 cm. Good condition. Old soldering repairs on verso. Suspension hook on verso.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.

Hanukkah lamp created by Johann Georg Balthasar Weilbach. Nördlingen, southern Germany, 1786-1819.
Pewter, cast and engraved (marked with maker’s mark, i.e., with inscription “G. B. Weilbach”: Johann Georg Balthasar Weilbach, active Nördlingen, late decades of 18th century and early 19th century; and with mark bearing image of eagle).
Hanukkah lamp shaped like a sofa with tall armrests, supported on a tall pair of legs. The back plate is perforated with three openings: two ovals and a heart shape. Delicately engraved patterns lining and conforming with borders of back plate and its perforations. These patterns include two heads of birds of prey in the upper margins; a flame rising from the top edge of the heart shape; and two v-shaped braided rope patterns with flower patterns at their bottom junctions. The row of cast oil fonts is positioned above the drip pan which, at its front right corner, bears an eavestrough-like spout for draining off the excess oil. Servant light, held in place atop dedicated “shelf, ” and equipped with long handle, curved at the end.

An identical Hanukkah lamp created by the same craftsman is part of the collection of the Jewish Museum, New York (Item F1020). See: Susan Braunstein, “Five Centuries of Hanukkah Lamps, No. 222. The maker’s mark engraved by Johann G. B. Weilbach on this particular Hanukkah lamp differs from Weilbach’s maker’s mark documented by Hintze (1928), Vol. 6, item nos. 710-711.

Height: 19 cm. Width: 17 cm. Overall good condition. Few stains. Old soldering repairs. Remnants of glue around spout. Legs warped and fractured.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.

Hanukkah lamp. [Palestine?, first half of 20th century?].
Copper sheet, sawed; brass sheet, repoussé, punched, sawed, and cut.
Back plate and side panels made from a single shaped piece of sheet brass, punched with vegetal and geometric patterns, mounted with rivets onto a thick, reddish piece of copper sheet. Openwork patterns sawed through brass sheet include entwined branches and hunting scenes (a lion chasing a gazelle on the back plate, and additional lions and gazelles on the side panels). At the upper edge of the back plate is a cutout pattern consisting of a winding branch and a pair of birds, and this pattern is surmounted by an ornament in the shape of a “hamsa” (hand), to which a suspension ring is attached. The row of oil fonts, with pinched, pointed spouts for the wicks, is supported and positioned on top of a flat-topped, conical base fastened to the drip pan underneath it. The removable servant light is inserted into a dedicated slot at the front of the back plate.

Height: 28 cm. Width: 22 cm. Minor blemishes. Minor fractures to openwork patterns, and small segments missing. Old soldering repairs.

PLEASE NOTE: Some lot descriptions were shortened in translation. For further information, please refer to the Hebrew text.