"The Independence Hanukkah Lamp", two original drawings by Ze'ev Raban for a Hanukkah lamp produced by the Pal-Bell company. [ca. 1950].
Pencil and ink on paper. Stamped with the studio stamp, "Ze'ev Raban, Workshop for Industrial Art (formerly Gur-Aryeh and Raban), Bezalel, Jerusalem". Markings or handwritten comments on both drawings.
1. Drawing for the lamp's façade. A triptych composed of depictions of the Maccabees' battles and the lighting of the Temple menorah.
Drawing: approx. 7X23 cm (leaf: approx. 14X31 cm). Attached to passe-partout. Good-fair condition. Folding marks, creases and slight defects. Stains (including light stains to drawing).
2. Drawing for lamp's reverse. In the center is the emblem of the State of Israel, alongside two figures: a soldier and a female pioneer, seated, with the national institutions and the Hebrew University buildings behind them. On the top margins, on the left and right, are excerpts from Israel's Declaration of Independence.
Drawing: approx. 8.5X27.5 cm (leaf: 11.5X32.5 cm). Attached to passe-partout. Good condition. Folding marks and creases. Stains and slight defects to leaf margins.
See: Ze'ev Raban, A Hebrew Symbolist. Exhibition catalogue, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2001 (curator: Batsheva Goldman Ida), p. 180; nos. 234-235 (photographed).