Auction 97 Part 2 Rare and Important Items
Brass Hanukkah Lamp, Adorned with Putti Figures – Italy, 18th-19th Century
Hanukkah Lamp. Italy, [probably 18th-19th century].
Brass, cast, chased.
The triangular back plate features various decorative motifs typical of Italian Hanukkah Lamps of the 16th and 17th centuries: the lower part consists of two seated cherubs (Putti), holding bouquets of flower, flanking a female face (Medusa?); between the cherubs' wings is located a blank cartouche, topped by a vase of flowers, whose large, stylized handles are modeled as grotesque masks. A row of rectangular oil fonts with long, pinched spouts for wicks is fastened to the back plate with screws and nuts (the row of oil fonts is shorter than the back plate and was likely added later).
Rare model.
For an identical Hanukkah Lamp, see: Sotheby’s, New York, the Steinhardt Collection, April 29, 2013, item no. 203; a similar lamp, with additional decorations, formerly part of the S.M. Solomon collection, is illustrated in: Hebraica, Documents d'Art Juif Orfèvrerie, Peinture, Préface de Henri Guttman, pl. XII. This lamp was sold at Bonhams Skinner, Boston, May 21, 2009, item no. 175.
Height: 18.5 cm, width: 21.5 cm. Overall good Condition. Suspension ring. Without servant light.