Obj. ID: 21702
Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts Biblioteca Casanatense Gaster I Type Esther Scroll, Venice (?), Second half of the 17th century
The scroll represents the type called Gaster I (for the explanation of the name see "Additional Remarks") that are lavishly decorated megillot produced in a mixed technique in which decorative border is printed as copper engraving and colored by hand whereas the Hebrew text of the Book of Esther is penned by a scribe. The opening section is precisely filled with a rich decoration formed of tendrils, flowers, and animals that surround the cartouche. The upper and lower margins are adorned with repeating endless knot motifs alternating with 20 cartouches enclosing one up to three scenes that chronicle the narrative of the Book of Esther. In this scroll, the background behind the endless knot motifs and cartouches in both margins is painted blue; on the subsequent sheets, different hues of blue color are used (in some places it is very faded). The ten text panels, in which nineteen text columns are included, are interspersed by stylized floral decoration. The same scheme repeats on all three membranes forming each scroll from this group. The pattern ends with a symmetrical decoration composed of large flowers and foliate ornaments surrounding a cartouche. Many decorative elements are common with the scrolls of Klagsbald Type (see ID 31). The cartouche in the opening decoration of the scroll from the Casanatense Library collection is filled with a seal that appears again on the opening section of the manuscript, outside decoration's outline. The right edge of the first membrane is trimmed into a funnel shape.
The scroll is mounted on the rod with ivory finials; its upper part is curved.
10 image(s)
sub-set tree:
The scroll is formed of 3 membranes on which the Book of Esther is inscribed in 19 text columns (in 10 panels; 9 of them are double and the last one is single) with 22 lines each, except for the col. 16 with 11 lines divided into two parts.
The style of the script on sheets nos 2 and 3 is different than on the first sheet; the shade of ink is darker, the letters are smaller and the handwriting is denser even if the particular strokes are thinner. However, it still represents the square Italian type of Hebrew script. Possibly two different instruments were used for copying the text in the scroll.
The traditional enlarged and smaller letters are included only in the section of the IX chapter listing the names of Haman's sons (col. 16).
The ruling is visible, although not everywhere equally. In some places also the pricking can be seen.
The text is copied and the border is printed on the flesh side of the parchment sheets that are stitched.
The name "Gaster I" was introduced by Mendel Metzger in an article entitled "The Earliest Engraved Italian Megilloth" published in the "Bulletin of the John Rylands Library" (48:2 (1966), 381‒432, esp. 390). The type was named after Moses Gaster (1856–1939), the rabbi, scholar, and manuscript collector of whose collections a scroll adorned with this pattern formed a part (at present this is the scroll Gaster Hebrew MS 710 stored in the John Rylands Library in Manchester). At least 25 manuscripts representing this type are still extant and are preserved in private and institutional collections. For descriptions of other scrolls representing the same pattern see ID nos: 61, 1098, 1441, 21702, and 34125.
Two paper stickers containing the Library's inscription: "Mss Regia Biblioteca Casanatense Roma" and the number "Mss. 4851" are pasted on the opening section of the scroll, on its recto and verso side. Above the sticker, on the recto side, handwritten date or number 1743 is visible.
On the upper part of the verso side of the first sheet, there is an inscription: "FFFIV* CAPSULA No 5".
In the ornamentation some traces of gold are visible.
The background of the upper and lower margins is painted in a few different hues of blue color; the paint on the lower margin of the third membrane is barely visible, whereas the shade on the first membrane is saturated.
The membranes represent different types of parchment.
This image belongs to the ''Ursula and Kurt Schubert Archive'' in the Center for Jewish Art.
The scroll is described in:
Valeria Antonioli Martelli, Luisa Mortara Ottolenghi, Manoscritti biblici ebraici decorati provenienti da biblioteche italiane pubbliche e private: catalogo della mostra ordinata presso la Biblioteca Trivulziana: catalogo della mostra ordinata presso la Biblioteca Trivulziana, Castello Sforzesco, Milano, 2/28 marzo 1966 (Milano: Adei-Wiso) 1966, 62-63, object 17 + plate no. 12. (It lists an additional bibliography discussing the manuscript.
Ernest Namenyi, "The Illumination of Hebrew Manuscripts after the Invention of Printing," in Cecil Roth (ed.), Jewish Art, an Illustrated History (London, 1961), col. 433.
The bibliography on other manuscripts featuring the same pattern: