Hanukkah Lamp

This Hanukkah lamp features a great many decorations. It stands on four lion’s feet and has four winged angel’s heads on the base of its shaft. A bell is mounted under the oil lamps, trees are visible behind each one, and squirrels, stags, eagles and pelicans stand in front. In 1681 a large wedding was held in the Judengasse. The groom, Moshe Speyer, lived in the Goldener Hirsch (‘Golden Stag’). The other house emblems are probably an allusion to the bride’s family. The Sabbath lamp, the Hannukah menorah and the Kiddush cup were traditional wedding gifts in Frankfurt’s Judengasse, they made up the basic set of religious objects given to a young couple at their wedding. Biblical figures are also depicted: the warrior Judas Maccabeus in the center and Judith with the severed head of Holofernes at the top. The candelabrum was handed down as a family heirloom over several generations.