ITALIAN BRONZE CHANUKAH LAMP.

Bronze, cast and chased with trace of fire-gilding. On openwork backplate, two putti hold a tasseled Cardinal's hat beneath fleur-de-lis suspension hook, surmounting a cartouche with family coat-of-arms, flanked by female profiles, rocailles and foliage. Grotesque mask at center below, over a row of circular-rimmed oil fonts with truncated spouts, attached with (later) hooks to backplate. 9 x 9 inches. 17th century.

The coat-of-arms on the backplate is apparently that of an Italian Marrano family of Spanish origin. The Christian custom of family coats-of-arms was adopted and perpetuated by many such families after the expulsion and flight from Spain and Portugal and their return to Judaism. A similar Chanukah lamp at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, bears the symbol of Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, who annexed Ferrara to the Church in 1598. Aldobrandini, like Don Inigo d’Avalos of Naples prevented the expulsion of the Jews, and these Chanukah lamps may bear their coats-of-arm as a gesture of thanks. Many Chanukah lamps of this period are in the Italian Renaissance style: the seated angels echo works by Michelangelo. See Israel Museum Catalogue, The Stieglitz Collection: Masterpieces of Jewish Art (1987) p. 162; Victoria and Albert Museum Catalogue, Jewish Ritual Art (1991) p. 42; M. Narkiss, The Hanukkah lamp (1939) p. XII.