Jan Pogorzelski, Hanukkah Converter Lamp, 1893, Silver, 26¾” x 18” x 8¼”, Jewish Museum, New York, Photo courtesy of the Jewish Museum
The converter lamp became popular in Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland in the middle of the 19th century. These upper portions of menorah lamps could be inserted into candlesticks that people already owned.
The firm of Jan Pogorzelski in Warsaw created this converter lamp. Many silversmiths in Warsaw produced lamps such as this with grapevines wrapping around the arms, a motif that was popular for decades in the 19th century and favored in reproductions made in the late 20th century.
Happy Hanukkah from The Art Minute
