© Moshe Oved estate

According to anecdote, it was while sheltering in the basement of his jewellery shop, Cameo Corner, during the Blitz of 1940-41, that Moshe Oved first began modelling animal design rings to steady his trembling hands. He took up sculpting at the end of the war in his sixties and created a series of small bronze heads and a number of candelabra to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. Chanukiah with Doves is one of 11 works by Oved in the Ben Uri Collection, which also includes a group of heads, designs for commemorative rings and a highly individual menorah.

Chanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple and the victory of the Maccabees (Jewish army) over the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks) circa 167 BCE. It lasts eight days, to commemorate the miracle that happened when the Maccabees had only enough oil to burn in their lamp for one night, but instead, it burned for eight nights. The chanukiah or hanukkiah is a type of menorah (lamp) in the form of a candelabra specifically designed to hold the Hanukkah candles and traditionally contains room for nine candles - one for each night of the eight-night holiday - plus the shammash or helper candle, which is used to light the others, although there are some extant examples of antique European ten candle-holders. Oved's delightful hanukkiah, centred around the form of a dove, similarly contains room for ten candles: eight in the form of tiny individual doves on the base of the piece and two at the end of the branching wings of a standing dove. The lighting of the candles is the main ritual of Hanukkah with one candle added each night until, on the eighth and final evening, the hanukkiah is ablaze with light. Doves are traditionally symbols of peace and light. In the Old Testament story of Noah's Ark, the dove carrying an olive branch brings peace and light to the world after the flood, and the eight days of oil in the story of Chanukkah also brought light to the Maccabees.