Pewter Hanukkah Lamp – Strasbourg, Alsace, Late 18th or Early 19th Century (1769-1810) – Back Plate Inscribed with ...

Pewter Hanukkah Lamp – Strasbourg, Alsace, Late 18th or Early 19th Century (1769-1810) – Back Plate Inscribed with “HaNerot Halalu”

Pewter, cast, soldered and engraved.
Touchmark: shield surmounted by crown, Strasbourg’s municipal emblem, flanked by the initials "IB" (probably for Jacques-Frédéric Borst, active 1769-1810).
Arched, undulating back plate, with circular opening near top. Soldered onto the lower central portion is a gracefully styled undulating ornament. Matching side panels. Broad drip pan with a row of tapering oil fonts soldered to its bottom.
A Hebrew inscription consisting of the Hanukkah prayer "HaNerot Halalu", recited or sung immediately following the lighting of the Hanukkah lights, is engraved onto the back plate. The prayer was unprofessionally inscribed here in square Hebrew script, with vocalization marks occasionally added. The circular hole at the top of the back plate is flanked by a symmetrical pair of engraved floral patterns. Remnants of a faded, indecipherable Hebrew inscription appear on the front of the drip pan.
Only a handful of pewter Hanukkah lamps inscribed with a prayer for the lighting of the Hanukkah lights on the back plate are known to exist. Included among these are three lamps belonging to the Collection of the Jewish Museum, New York (item nos. F2337, F2642, and F2724).

Height: 23 cm. Width: 19.5 cm. Fair condition. Old fractures and soldering repairs. Missing strips of metal mended with old repairs (causing damage to inscription on front of drip pan). No servant light. Remnants of a metal shelf that originally supported the row of oil fonts appear on the inner faces of the side panels.

For Hanukkah lamps of similar design, see: Musée alsacien, item nos. D.66.002.0.62 and D.66.002.0.63; Ester Muchawsky-Schnapper, "Les Juifs d'Alsace: Village, Tradition, émancipation / rédactrice", The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1991, item no. 37.
For a similar Hanukkah lamp by the same maker, see: Willy Lindwer, "The Beauty of Jewish Pewter", Fig. 13.
Provenance:
1. Peter Castle (1922-2011), great-grandson of Solomon David Schloss. Acquired from Galerie Potterat, Lausanne, Switzerland, 1993.
2. Heir of the above.