Polish More Folk Art

The fish-women or mermaid has been a symbol of the City of Warsaw, Poland since 1622. This box made around the beginning of the 20th century has a lot going on. Brass inlay 3 x W for...

Cast brass Hanukkah Lamp, Galicia, 18th century. The backplate is cast and pierced featuring dense scrollwork. The side panels fitted with two servant lights, fronted by a row of eight oil fonts. Scholars theorize that these Polish Chanukah Lamps that bear two servant lights (as opposed to the singular servant light normally found on a Chanukah Lamp), served a purpose, having been used on one of the days that Chanukah fell on the Sabbath, as Sabbath Candlesticks. This lamp was made by the technique known as "sand casting". This process begins with a wooden mold that was carved out to create negative space, which in turn is used to make the inverse form or shape to be used for the casting of metal. The mold is pressed into fine sand mixed with clay, then removed, and molten brass poured into the impression. When a mold wears out, a casting from that mold is often used as the mold for the next generation. Those later lamps...

The backplate is cast and featuring a deer in the center surrounded by open scrollwork. The side panels fitted with two servant lights, fronted by a row of eight oil fonts. Scholars theorize that these Polish Chanukah lamps that bear two servant lights (as opposed to the singular servant light normally found on a Hanukkah Lamp...

Brass Hanukkah lamp Menorah, Poland, circa 1810. Cast in Bench form, on four feet. The backplate is cast and pierced featuring scrollwork. This lamp was made by the technique known as "sand casting". This process begins with a wooden mold that was carved out to create negative space, which in turn is used to make the inverse form or shape to be used for the casting of metal. The mold is pressed into fine sand mixed with clay, then removed, and molten brass poured into the impression. When a mold wears out, a casting from that mold is often used as the mold for the next generation. Those later lamps...