Hanukkah Lamp

On the backplate of this lamp is a wreath with a pointed hat in the center. This is a depiction of the distinctive headgear mandated to Jews in the Middle Ages to differentiate them from Christians. It eventually came to be the symbol by which Jews were recognized, and as early as the 1620s was adopted as the emblem of the Jewish community of Prague, where it appears on the Prague Jewish butcher's guild key and on community seals. A nineteenth-century tradition holds that the symbol was awarded to the Jews by Emperor Ferdinand III in 1648 after the Jews had helped in the defense of Prague against a Swedish siege, and it became known as the "Swedish hat." However, given the fact that it was in use before 1648, and that there is no record in the extensive annals of the region of this imperial award, this tradition seems to have little basis in fact.
There are only a few lamp types from Bohemia and Moravia that were cast in copper alloy. These were possibly inspired by the more common eastern European lamps. A number of construction features are the same: the use of separate parts assembled with tenons or screws in the same position, and the shape of the oil containers. One major difference is in the sidepieces, which in Czech lamps are thin, solid, and often in the shape of human figures. In addition, the two candleholders so characteristic of eastern European lamps are absent on Czech examples.
The sidepieces on lamps of this type consist of figures of Moses and Aaron. The poorness of the casting, which lacks the surface detail found in other examples, suggests this is a later version of the lamp.