Exquisite memorial chandelier for synagogue. Morocco, Tishrei [1933].
Silver (marked), cast, bent, sawn and embossed.
Intended for lighting memorial candles set inside lighting glasses, and for lighting electric light bulbs. Made of six parts:
1. Base made of 18 silver strips, bent and arranged in a goblet shape, held inside a ring.
2. Star-of-David ornament, decorated with delicate saw work in vegetal and geometric motifs. Each of the six points of the star features a decoration (removable) in the shape of a flower, surmounted by a candle holder. Six chains attach this decoration to the central ring.
3. Central ring inscribed with a sawn dedication reading (in Hebrew), "For the eternal rest of Rabbi Yaakov A'atiya, who died on 1 Tishrei 5694 [1933]". Six decorations in the shape of large flowers are screwed on to the ring. The flower decorations face sideways and downwards (inside each flower is a bulb holder). Six long chains attach the central ring to the top decoration.
4. Large upper decoration shaped as a six-armed crown and decorated with saw work in vegetal motifs.
5. Large ball, in the center of which is a horizontal strip with prominent squares.
6. Hanger shaped as a pierced crown in the shape of a flower, opening upwards.
This magnificent chandelier exemplifies the influence of European, particularly Dutch Jewish art on the Jews of Morocco's coastal cities, expressed mostly in the ritual objects of the Jews of Casablanca, Mogador, Tangier, Tetouan, Safi and other cities on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Many of the residents of these cities were Jews who had emigrated from Europe, or chose to live in Morocco for financial and commercial reasons, while maintaining their social and financial ties with their European colleagues and relatives.
Of particular interest in this chandelier are the large floral decorations (see above, no. 3), intended for holding incandescent light bulbs, reminiscent of the flowers appearing in hanging Sabbath lamps from Germany; the sawn crown (see above, no. 4), also reminiscent of large crowns decorating German and Dutch Sabbath lamps; the ball separating the upper decoration from the sawn crown (see above, no. 5), reminiscent of Polish, Dutch and German lamp necks which grow alternately wider and narrower; and above all - the design of the uppermost decoration (see above, no. 6), which shows the direct influence of the design of Dutch Sabbath lamps.
Length: 125 cm. Maximal width: 60 cm. Good overall condition. Some of the parts
are bent or have light breaks. One of the large flowers (see above, no. 3) is slightly different from the others. The small candle holders (no. 2) are marked with hallmarks different from the other marks. Decorations may have formerly been suspended from the rings at the bottom ends of the candle holders.
Literature:
1. North African Lights: Hanukkah Lamps from the Zeyde Schulmann Collection, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Chaya Benjamin. Jerusalem (2002), pp. 25-29.
2. The Stieglitz Collection: Masterpieces of Jewish Art, Chaya Benjamin. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, (1987), p. 228.