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Img. ID: 109020

© Center for Jewish Art, Photographer: Unknown,

In the lower-left corner of the sixth text column, a scene of the reading of the Book of Records to the king is depicted. On the left, on a chair under a kind of a canopy or a decorative drapery sits Ahasuerus. He holds a scepter in his right hand an with the second hand, he points to an open book that is held by a man (possibly king's servant) who is shown in front of him, at the background of the palace gardens.

Name/Title
GFC Second Nitra Esther Scroll | Unknown
Object Detail
col. 6
Settings
Unknown
Date
1837
Synagogue active dates
Reconstruction dates
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community type
Unknown |
Congregation
Unknown
Location
Unknown |
Site
Unknown
School/Style
Unknown|
Period
Unknown
Period Detail
Collection
Documentation / Research project
Unknown
Material / Technique
Ink on paper (printed illustrations and text)
Material Stucture
Material Decoration
Material Bonding
Material Inscription
Material Additions
Material Cloth
Material Lining
Tesserae Arrangement
Density
Colors
Construction material
Measurements
The scroll: 264x1087 mm.
Height
Length
Width
Depth
Circumference
Thickness
Diameter
Weight
Axis
Panel Measurements
Condition

The scroll is preserved in very good condition.

Extant
Documented by CJA
Surveyed by CJA
Present Usage
Present Usage Details
Condition of Building Fabric
Architectural Significance type
Historical significance: Event/Period
Historical significance: Collective Memory/Folklore
Historical significance: Person
Architectural Significance: Style
Architectural Significance: Artistic Decoration
Urban significance
Significance Rating
Textual Content
Unknown |
Languages of inscription
Unknown
Shape / Form
Unknown
0
Ornamentation
Custom
Contents

The Book of Esther in Hebrew with benedictions and liturgical poems for Purim.

Codicology

The scroll consists of 4 sheets on which 11 text columns are printed (they include benedictions, liturgical poems, the complete text of the Megillah, and the engraver's colophon).

The initial word of the scroll is formed of large and decorative letters.

The section listing the names of Haman's sons (incorporated in col. 7) is printed in 11 lines divided into two half-columns. It contains enlarged and diminished letters.

The letters ח (Es. 1:6), ת (Es. 9:29), and the letters of the name of God are enlarged.

The sheets in the scroll are glued together.

Scribes
Script
Number of Lines
Ruling
Pricking
Quires
Catchwords
Hebrew Numeration
Blank Leaves
Direction/Location
Façade (main)
Endivances
Location of Torah Ark
Location of Apse
Location of Niche
Location of Reader's Desk
Location of Platform
Temp: Architecture Axis
Arrangement of Seats
Location of Women's Section
Direction Prayer
Direction Toward Jerusalem
Coin
Coin Series
Coin Ruler
Coin Year
Denomination
Signature
Colophon

The colophon of the artist-scribe is placed in a decorative frame at the end of the scroll, below the last column of the text. It bears the name of the artist (Mordechai sofer stam), the place (Nitra), and the date according to the Jewish calendar ([5]597, i.e. 1837). It starts with the enlarged word formed of decorative letters.

ידעתי/גם ידעתי כי אנכי עפר/ ואפר ויאות לאיש כמוני/ להחפר כי מי אני/ לעשות לי שם בשם/ וסופר רק היינו טעמא/ דסופר להיות לזכרון/ אשר ידי תיכון אף/ זרועי תאמצני וימיני/ תסעדני בעזר האל אשר/ עזרני ועד הלום הביאני/ כ'ד מרדכי סופר סתם מק'ק' [קהילת קודש]/ נייטרא יעא תק'צ'ז ל'פ'ק' [לפרט קטן].

Scribal Notes
Watermark
Hallmark
Group
Group
Group
Group
Group
Trade Mark
Binding
Decoration Program
Summary and Remarks

In institutional and private collections are stored other exemplars of the scrolls decorated with the same pattern.

The numbers of text columns given in the descriptions concern the columns in which the text of the Megillah is printed and do not concern the columns with the benedictions and liturgical poems.

Remarks
Suggested Reconsdivuction
History/Provenance
Main Surveys & Excavations
Bibliography

Selected bibliography on other works by Mordecai Sofer of Nitra (Marcus Donath):

Zsuzsanna Toronyi, Héber betűk. Dokumentumok a Magyar Zsidó Levéltárból, Budapest 2012, 35.

Zsuzsanna Toronyi, Markus Donath / Mordecai Sofer Stam of Nitra, [in:] Emile, Schrijver Eds. Windows on Jewish Worlds. Essays in Honor of William Gross, Collector of Judaica, Amsterdam 2019, 246-271.

Ernő Naményi, „Ein ungarisch-jüdischer Kupferstecher der Biedermeierzeit (Markus Donath)”, [in:] Jubilee-Volume in Honour of Prof. Bernhard Heller, ed. A. Schreiber, Budapest 1941, 252‒257.

Alexander Scheiber, „Markus Donath’s Second Misrah-plate”, Studies in Bibliography and Booklore 1973-1974, no. 10, 80–82.

Alexander Scheiber, „Marcus Donath’s Mohel Book”, Studies in Bibliography and Booklore 1979, no. 12, 9–11.

Irina Wandrey, "Codex Levy 45”, Manuscript Cultures 2014, no. 6, 275–279.

Lot 198: A Hungarian Jewel-set Silver-gilt Miniature Torah Crown and Shield, Sotheby's A Treasured Legacy: The Michael and Judy Steinhardt Judaica Collection. New York 29 April 2013 available on https://www.sothebys.com (accessed on 22.03.2020).

Short Name
Full Name
Volume
Page
Type
Documenter
Dagmara Budzioch | 2020
Author of description
Dagmara Budzioch | 2020
Architectural Drawings
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Computer Reconstruction
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Section Head
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Language Editor
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Donor
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Negative/Photo. No.
S131349