Hanukkah Lamp

A new type of Hanukkah lamp for home use, in addition to the bench type seems to have been developed in Frankfurt in the late seventeenth century-one with a central shaft and curved arms in the form of the ancient menorah. The earliest lamps in this new domestic size were produced by Frankfurt silversmiths Johann Valentin Shüler (1650-1720) and his brother Johann Michael (1658-1718). The two lamps of this type in the museum's collection were made by Johann Michael's brother in law, Johann Adam BoIler. The lamps all have tubular arms ornamented with alternating flowers and knobs or bell shaped forms, reminiscent of the biblical description of the first seven-branch menorah crafted during the Exodus. The figure of the biblical heroine Judith is placed at top on a round platform.

Two features on this lamp differentiate it from the others of this type. The first is the rampant lion that serves as the lower portion of the shaft. The second is the introduction of color. Four painted enamel roundels ornament the base, containing a scene of Rebecca meeting Abraham's servant Ezekiel at the well, and three episodes from the life of her son, the patriarch Jacob. Color is also found in the filigree flowers on the arms, which are decorated in cloisonné enamel.

The imagery on the enamels may possibly refer to the first names of the owners, presumably a couple named Rebecca and Jacob. Additionally, the lion on the shaft might represent their last name, since German Jews frequently took their surnames from the towns in which they lived, or from their houses, which were named for animals or objects. The Yiddish for lion is Loew or Lev. However, it seems unlikely that this was the owners' last name, since it is more commonly a man's first name, and according to Dietz's genealogy of the Frankfurt Jewish community, no family bore that surname in Frankfurt. Alternatively, the lion could simply be a support device as found on other types of objects common in seventeenth-century German silver, particularly standing cups.

The shield held by the lion is engraved with the image of a stag and a bird; it is on a thin sheet of metal wedged between the lion's paws, and may be a later addition. These creatures could represent the names of another couple who owned the lamp; Hirsch is a Yiddish name meaning deer, while Feigel is a woman's name signifying a bird. As shown by other lamps in the Jewish Museum collection, Hanukkah lamps were sometimes given as wedding gifts, and this lamp could have been presented several times during its more than two-century history.