Hanukkah Lamp

The designs on this backplate are a good illustration of the combination of west European decorative arts styles and Ukrainian folk motifs that characterizes cast Hanukkah lamps from eastern Europe. The elegant scrollwork on the upper portion of the lamp, topped by a fleur-de-lis, is suggestive of the baroque style, which originated in the design centers of western Europe. Across the bottom, however, is a series of rhomboids, which are completely atypical for western European metalwork. They have been compared to ornamentation found on Polish/Russian wooden sculpture.
An unusual feature on this lamp type is the substitution of trumpet-shaped flowers for the two candleholders typically found on the sidepieces of eastern European lamps. These are reminiscent of the reflectors found on European hanging brass lamps of the seventeenth century, although they do not seem to be positioned in such a way that they could reflect the lights. Such flowers are also found around the bases of large cast menorah-form lamps from eastern Europe.