Dutch Silver Hanukkah Lamp – Rare, Early Model with Splendidly...
Dutch Silver Hanukkah Lamp – Rare, Early Model with Splendidly Decorated Back Plate, by Silversmith Joachim (Joachimus) Kuen – Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 1760
Silver, soldered, repoussé, and punched.
Hallmarks: On drip pan: · Fineness mark from Amsterdam; · Amsterdam city mark; · The letter "A" (1760); · Maker's mark "KUEN" (active 1755-1783). On servant light: later hallmark (tax mark?).
Large, magnificent Hanukkah lamp. The back plate is made to look like a large, baroque-style cartouche, with a large, scallop-shaped ornament on top and an extensive, shiny, convex reflecting surface in the middle. Adorned with symmetrical vegetal patterns, in addition to a pair of pitcher-shaped ornaments and a pair of angel-faced ornaments, positioned symmetrically. At the bottom, soldered to the bottom of the back plate and protruding outward, is a deep, wide, rectangular drip pan adorned with matching vegetal patterns. The row of oil fonts, with pinched, pointed spouts for the wicks, is attached to the back plate just above the drip pan by means of pins and nuts-and-bolts. The removable servant light has a spiraling wire for a handle, surmounting a rod to be inserted into a narrow tube positioned at the upper part the back plate. An aperture at the base of the upper scallop-shaped ornament is probably intended for suspension, although it may have formerly served for attachment of the servant light.
This is a rare, early model of Hanukkah lamp, and only a handful of examples are known to exist in museum collections, most of these had once belonged to Dutch Jewish families of Spanish-Portuguese origin.
Two lamps of this type, originating from Amsterdam, were created by the silversmith Harmanus Nieuwenhuys: one dated 1751, from the collection of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (acquired by her in 1907), is kept on loan at the Jewish Museum (of the Jewish Cultural Quarter, Amsterdam, item no. MB02280); and another, dated 1747, from the Maduro Family Collection, was sold by the auctioneers Venduehuis der Notarissen, the Hague, in 2016. The latter is very similar in design to the Hanukkah lamp presented here. A third lamp, created by silversmith Reynier de Haan, the Hague, 1752, is part of the collection of the Jewish Museum, New York (item no. F 3693). In addition to these, we know of two Hanukkah lamps of this type both made in the 17th century (Jewish Museum, Amsterdam, item no. MB00081; and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, item no. BK-1970-116), as well as three other lamps, from the early 18th century, whose rows of oil fonts are arranged in a semicircle.
In this context, it is also worth noting the Dutch-style Hanukkah lamp known as "the Lindo Lamp", created by silversmith John Ruslen in London in 1709 on behalf of Elias Lindo (housed today in the Jewish Museum of London, item no. JM 230), which also resembles the items in the family of lamps described here.
It is likely that the Hanukkah lamp presented here entered the Schloss collection from the direction of the family of Solomon Schloss’s young wife, Jeanette (née Raphael, 1829-1858); her grandfather and two of her uncles were Jewish bankers of Spanish origin, active in Amsterdam.
Height: 40.5 cm. Width: 25 cm. Depth: 9 cm. Minor Blemishes to one of the pitcher-shaped ornaments. Remnants of square hole to left side of the backplate, repaired (old soldering repair).
Reference: Niklaus Flüeler, "Museen in der Schweiz", Zürich, 1988, see photo on p. 24; Michele Klein, "Preserving Jewish heritage: Solomon Schloss's collection of Jewish ritual art", Journal of the History of Collections, vol. 34, no. 3, 2022, pp. 441-454.
Exhibitions:
1. London, Exhibition of Jewish Art and Antiquities, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1906, item no. 238.
2. Basel, Jewish Museum of Switzerland, JMS 1019.
Provenance:
1. Collection of Solomon David Schloss (1815–1911).
2. Lewis Raphael Castle (1858-1932), son of the above.
3. Peter Castle (1922-2011), grandson of the above.
4. Heirs of the above.
This item appears in the inventory list of the Schloss Collection, dated 1923 (see appendix, pp. 146-148), and is documented in a 1931 collection photograph (see p. 11).
Bid on this lot
Dutch Silver Hanukkah Lamp – Rare, Early Model with Splendidly Decorated Back Plate, by Silversmith Joachim (Joachimus) Kuen – Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 1760
Silver, soldered, repoussé, and punched.
Hallmarks: On drip pan: · Fineness mark from Amsterdam; · Amsterdam city mark; · The letter "A" (1760); · Maker's mark "KUEN" (active 1755-1783). On servant light: later hallmark (tax mark?).
Large, magnificent Hanukkah lamp. The back plate is made to look like a large, baroque-style cartouche, with a large, scallop-shaped ornament on top and an extensive, shiny, convex reflecting surface in the middle. Adorned with symmetrical vegetal patterns, in addition to a pair of pitcher-shaped ornaments and a pair of angel-faced ornaments, positioned symmetrically. At the bottom, soldered to the bottom of the back plate and protruding outward, is a deep, wide, rectangular drip pan adorned with matching vegetal patterns. The row of oil fonts, with pinched, pointed spouts for the wicks, is attached to the back plate just above the drip pan by means of pins and nuts-and-bolts. The removable servant light has a spiraling wire for a handle, surmounting a rod to be inserted into a narrow tube positioned at the upper part the back plate. An aperture at the base of the upper scallop-shaped ornament is probably intended for suspension, although it may have formerly served for attachment of the servant light.
This is a rare, early model of Hanukkah lamp, and only a handful of examples are known to exist in museum collections, most of these had once belonged to Dutch Jewish families of Spanish-Portuguese origin.
Two lamps of this type, originating from Amsterdam, were created by the silversmith Harmanus Nieuwenhuys: one dated 1751, from the collection of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (acquired by her in 1907), is kept on loan at the Jewish Museum (of the Jewish Cultural Quarter, Amsterdam, item no. MB02280); and another, dated 1747, from the Maduro Family Collection, was sold by the auctioneers Venduehuis der Notarissen, the Hague, in 2016. The latter is very similar in design to the Hanukkah lamp presented here. A third lamp, created by silversmith Reynier de Haan, the Hague, 1752, is part of the collection of the Jewish Museum, New York (item no. F 3693). In addition to these, we know of two Hanukkah lamps of this type both made in the 17th century (Jewish Museum, Amsterdam, item no. MB00081; and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, item no. BK-1970-116), as well as three other lamps, from the early 18th century, whose rows of oil fonts are arranged in a semicircle.
In this context, it is also worth noting the Dutch-style Hanukkah lamp known as "the Lindo Lamp", created by silversmith John Ruslen in London in 1709 on behalf of Elias Lindo (housed today in the Jewish Museum of London, item no. JM 230), which also resembles the items in the family of lamps described here.
It is likely that the Hanukkah lamp presented here entered the Schloss collection from the direction of the family of Solomon Schloss’s young wife, Jeanette (née Raphael, 1829-1858); her grandfather and two of her uncles were Jewish bankers of Spanish origin, active in Amsterdam.
Height: 40.5 cm. Width: 25 cm. Depth: 9 cm. Minor Blemishes to one of the pitcher-shaped ornaments. Remnants of square hole to left side of the backplate, repaired (old soldering repair).
Reference: Niklaus Flüeler, "Museen in der Schweiz", Zürich, 1988, see photo on p. 24; Michele Klein, "Preserving Jewish heritage: Solomon Schloss's collection of Jewish ritual art", Journal of the History of Collections, vol. 34, no. 3, 2022, pp. 441-454.
Exhibitions:
1. London, Exhibition of Jewish Art and Antiquities, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1906, item no. 238.
2. Basel, Jewish Museum of Switzerland, JMS 1019.
Provenance:
1. Collection of Solomon David Schloss (1815–1911).
2. Lewis Raphael Castle (1858-1932), son of the above.
3. Peter Castle (1922-2011), grandson of the above.
4. Heirs of the above.
This item appears in the inventory list of the Schloss Collection, dated 1923 (see appendix, pp. 146-148), and is documented in a 1931 collection photograph (see p. 11).
