Hanukkah Lamp (Frankfurt am Main)
At the center of the backplate of this silver Hanukkah menorah from Frankfurt am Main is a scene depicting the biblical heroine Judith, who has cut off Holofernes’s head and is about to place it in a sack held open by her maid. Judith was a common image found on Hanukkah lamps in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as well as a popular subject in art and literature in Western European culture at large. This is an early example of a Hanukkah lamp with feet, which allow the lamp to sit securely on a windowsill or tabletop. It resembles some inkstands of the period.
Credits
Hanukkah Lamp. Purchase: Norman S. Goetz, Mr. and Mrs. Henry A. Loeb, Mr. and Mrs. Henry L. Marx, Ira A. Schur, Lawrence A. Wien, Leonard Block, Gustave L. Levy, and Robert I. Wishnick Gifts / The Jewish Museum, New York.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.
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