Img. ID: 10623
Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts  

Back to the object

A tinted, rectangular panel beneath the text contains three biblical scenes set against an open hilly landscape dotted with buildings. The scenes, all concerning the Patriarchs, illustrate the passage on the facing page, ואקח את אביכם את אברהם ... ואתן ליצחק את יעקב ואת עשו ... ויעקב ובניו ירדו מצרימה, "And I took your father Abraham... and I gave unto Isaac, Jacob and Esau... and Jacob and his children went down into Egypt." The scene of the sacrifice of Isaac in the right foreground shows the bearded Abraham standing beside Isaac. Abraham raises a sword in his right hand, laying his left hand on Isaac's right shoulder (Gen. 22:10). The young Isaac, who wears only a loincloth, kneels on a pile of fagots set on the ground, withhis hands bound against his chest. On the right, a ram stands beneath a high bush. A winged angel hovers in the sky above on the right, grasping Abraham's sword (Gen. 22:12). On Abraham's right, at the center of the panel is the altar (?) shaped as a round vessel, from which rises a high column of smoke (Gen. 22:9). The second scene, set in the left foreground shows Isaac and Jacob learning Torah together. The bearded Isaac wearing a hat and a belted, pleated garment, holds an open book in his right hand. To his left stands Jacob, wearing a hat and a jacket with breeches, also holding an open book in both hands. Behind Jacob on the right are rows of small buildings, possibly signifying his attribute as a "plain man dwelling in tents" (Gen. 25:27). On the left, Esau, wearing a hat and a short tunic, walks away from Isaac while blowing a horn, on his way to a hunt. Two dogs run at his feet. He is depicted according to his attribute as a "cunning hunter, a man of the field" (Gen. 25:27). The third scene, set in the background, shows a group of people standing before a walled city with towers, representing Jacob and his family going down to Egypt (Gen. 46:7). Above the rectangular panel, a small square panel on the right of the text encloses the initial letter "Vav" commencing the passage, "And for him who does not know how to ask." The letter is written in spared-ground technique. Within the panel, flanking the letter, stand a boy and his father. The boy, on the right, raises his hand looking towards his bearded father. Behind the letter is a table covered with a cloth on which rest three mazot (?). A curved, ornamental pediment ending in scrolls, which rests on two columns,surrounds the text.