Judaica: Shabbat/sabbath Candelabrum - Candelabrum - Brass

Rare monumental desk clutter Sjabbat candlestick with deer and Polish eagle – Nuremberg, circa 1700

Period: circa 1700 (high Baroque / late 17th – early 18th century)

Origin: Nuremberg (made for the Polish-Jewish / Ashkenazi market)

Dimensions: Height approx. 45 cm

Description
An exceptionally early and rare piece of historical Ashkenazic Judaica. This monumental four-light yellow-copper/brass Shabbat candlestick is a representative example of the high Baroque metal foundry around 1700, produced in Nuremberg for the affluent Polish-Jewish community.

The candlestick rests on a heavy, stepped circular tray foot with profiled rings and a stout, turned baluster stem. The outward-extending arms are richly pierced with four stylized deer (Tzvi), referring to the well-known Talmudic passage (Pirkei Avot 5:20: "Be as a swift deer to fulfill the will of your Father in heaven"). The central crown is topped by a finely pilastered, crowned Polish eagle.

On the sides of the four deer is contemporaneously engraved in Ashkenazic square script the traditional blessing formula for lighting the Sabbath candle, refined with calligraphic tines (tagin):

להדליק נר של שבת (Lehadlik ner shel Shabbat – "To light the candle of Shabbat").

Around the edge of the foot is an authentically struck Nuremberg foundry mark, which makes this piece an important documentary record of 17th-/18th-century commercial relations between Southern German brass founders and Jewish communities in Eastern Europe.

Museum reference & documentation
An almost identical example is part of the famous collection of Karel Azijnman (1876–1936) in the Noordbrabants Museum in ’s-Hertogenbosch (inventory no. 9372, documented in the catalog Een eigenzinnig verzamelaar, p. 116, dated there: Poland ?, 17th century). While the museum piece lacks the central crown and the attribution was once with a question mark, the stamp on this candlestick definitively confirms Nuremberg brass-casting origin.

Specifications
Object: Four-light Shabbat table candlestick

Material: Cast and turned yellow copper/brass

Mark: Stamped Nuremberg marks on the foot rim

Height: approx. 45 cm

Width: approx. 38 cm

Condition report & deficiencies
Candle holders and grease guards (as associated): As is customary with early ceremonial copperwork that has been used intensely for generations on a weekly basis, the candle caps and drip trays have been replaced over the centuries. The present four caps and four grease guards are authentically old brass and harmonize in style, but do not form a uniform set (differences in turning profile, convexity and edge finish; three grease guards are fluted/perforated, one is smoothly turned).

Overall condition: The frame (foot, baluster stem, deer-armed arms and the eagle crown) is in remarkably good, solid and original condition. The surface shows attractive, light age-crackle, authentic turning marks on the underside of the hollow foot and a warm yellow-gold patina commensurate with an age of well over 300 years."