Hanukkah lamp

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Inspired by Dutch tulip decoration, the large blossoms that fill the wide frame became fashionable ornament across Europe during the 1660s to 1700. Like a wall sconce, the polished backplate would reflect the flickering light of the flames. The flourishing Free City and major port of Hamburg was a hub for Jewish refugees leaving the Iberian Peninsula. Purchased in 1913, this Hanukkah lamp is one of the earliest purchases of Judaica to enter the museum's encyclopedic collection.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art