A Highly Important, Parcel Gilt, Silver Hanging Hanukkah Lamp, By Lopienski Brothers, Warsaw, Late 19th Century

In the form of an elaborate Torah ark, derived from those of the Polish synagogues of the 18th century, this lamp is composed of a parcel gilt, pierced, silver repoussé sheet, mounted on a gilt silver back.
The central part, composed of two hinged doors revealing an engraved Decalogue, flanked by two sets of coiled columns and topped by two stories and a shell finial. Below is an openwork balcony with a row of eight oil containers in the form of leaping lions. The pierced sheet is adorned throughout with scrolls and a range of bestiary animals: unicorns, lions, birds of paradise, peacocks, eagles and winged griffins.
Fully marked in three places.

Height: 58 cm, width: 32.5 cm
Weight: approx. 6 kg.

Condition: Good, mising servant light.

Literature: For a very similar lamp and one of the earliest examples of this type of menorah: Braunstein, Susan “Five Centuries of Hanukkah Lamps from the Jewish Museum: A Catalogue Raisonné” New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004, p. 122-123