Hanukkah Lamp

In the late nineteenth century, numerous factories developed in Germany and elsewhere for the mass production of silver and silver-plate. These were fashioned by die-stamping in a press, rather than through handcrafting. While the original investment in the press apparatus was costly, the number of pieces that could be turned out eventually justified the expense. Although the technique was invented in 1769, die-stamped Judaica does not seem to have become common until the mid-nineteenth century, when it made ceremonial art more affordable to the middle and lower classes.
The firm that created this lamp was the Wurttembergisches Metallwarenfabrik of Geislingen an der Steige, Germany, which is still in operation today. Around the turn of the last century it specialized in plated copper-alloy wares, including ritual objects and utensils. This lamp model first appeared in their pattern book of 1894/5.
The baldachino (crown and canopy) and the scrollwork on this lamp are revivals from the Baroque period, and were common on much of the Judaica of the nineteenth century. The sofa form, evidenced by the rolled arms, was influenced by nineteenth-century Austrian lamps.