16th Century Italian Brass Hanukkah Lamp Menorah

Early cast brass Hanukkah Lamp Menorah, Sicily, Italy, circa 1550.

There are two sources for the triangular, small-scaled Hanukkah lamp, one in Spain, the other in Sicily. This lamp represents the prototype from Sicily, which migrated as far as Morocco in the south and Poland in the north. In Morocco, the pointed, plain European tendrils were exchanged for rounded, ornate oriental tendrils, and the round oil fonts with truncated spouts were converted into four wide rectangular pans with eight tapering spouts. In Poland, the oil fonts were converted into candle sockets, and the basic triangular shape evolved into something resembling a miniature piece of furniture. The rich, thick patina on this lamp attests to its age and would place it in the original source location of Sicily, obviously such lamps of early date are extremely rare.

For similar example see: Shachar, Isaiah, Jewish Tradition in Art: The Feuchtwanger Collection of Judaica, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1981.