Hanukkah Lamp (New York)

Artist Unknown

1730

This brass Hanukkah menorah is thought to have been used in the First Mill Street Synagogue of Congregation Shearith Israel, which opened in New York in 1730 and was located on present-day South William Street in downtown Manhattan. The lamp has a scalloped, pointed-arch backplate, with decorative repoussé elements including a central, upside-down heart and other smaller hearts, flowers, and balls. Its style recalls that of Dutch Jewish Hanukkah lamps at the turn of the eighteenth century.

Credits

Congregation Shearith Israel, New York, photo by DLW Photography. © 2021 by the Posen Foundation.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

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Faience-tile mosaic of floral designs throughout, two lines of Hebrew text at the top, and three niches at bottom.
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Related Guide

Early Modern Visual and Material Culture

1500–1750

Early modern Jewish visual culture flourished, with illuminated manuscripts, ornate synagogues, and portraiture alongside increasing non-Jewish interest in Jewish customs and greater Jewish self-representation.

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