Hanukkah lamp with music box, probably made by Hermann Südfeld. Vienna, 1884.
Silver, repoussé and cast (marked with Viennese quality marks dated 1884; and with partial maker’s mark, probably HS = the silversmith Hermann Südfeld).
In shape of sofa with tall backrest – exemplar of a type prevalent among Austro-Hungarian Hanukkah lamps of the 19th and 20th centuries. Backplate and base with vegetal patterns. Backplate topped with crown-shaped ornament surmounted by eagle. At center, Two Tablets of the Law (blank) surmounted by flame and flanked on either side by rampant lions. Removable row of oil fonts at front. Servant light (also removable) positioned behind backplate, off to the side.
At the base of the lamp, beneath the row of oil fonts, is a rectangular music box, operated by a spring and lever and wound with a key, which plays a melody (based on a popular German tune) for the liturgical Hanukkah song "Maoz Tzur" ("My Rock of Salvation").
The Jewish silversmith Hermann Südfeld (1835-1915) was active in Vienna in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. He created domestic silver items (candlesticks, boxes) – some of them in the Art Nouveau style. He also made Jewish ceremonial objects, including Torah ornaments (preserved in the collections of the Jewish Museum in Prague and the Bar-David Art and Judaica Museum, Kibbutz Bar’am), Hanukkah lamps (including a number of examples in the collection of the Jewish Museum, New York, some of them similar in design to the present lamp), and Havdalah spiceboxes (Collection of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, B50.02.0978).
Height: 24 cm. Width: 21 cm. Depth: 6 cm. Weight: 680 g. Overall good condition. One oil font detached. One screw missing. Music box mechanism operational; winding key enclosed.
