Img. ID: 14804

A crowned bride and a groom holding a ring also appear in several Ashkenazi manuscripts from the 13th-15th century. For example, in the Hammelburg mahzor a crowned bride and a groom holding a ring are depicted flanking the initial word Iti Mi-Levanon Kalah (Come with me from Lebanon, my Bride), as an illustration for this piyyut (Hammelburg mahzor, Hammelburg, 1348 (Darmstadt Hessische Landes- und Hochschulbibliothek, Cod. Or. 13, fol. 65v). It appears that crowning the bride was customary among Jews and non-Jews alike in Central and Western Europein medieval times. There are pictorial and literal sources that prove the antiquity of this custom, dating back to biblical times. However, in the Jewish world there was a temporary gap of practicing this custom of crowning the brides due to a prohibition during the mishnaic period to crown the bride, as a form of expressing the mourning over the destruction of theSecondTemple (Feuchtwanger, Coronation of the Virgin, pp. 213-224).

Hammelburg mahzor, Hammelburg, 1348 (Darmstadt Hessische Landes- und Hochschulbibliothek, Cod. Or. 13, fol. 65v).

The marriage ring with a precious stone appearing in our Ketubbah stands in contrast to the halakhic rule which is prevalent until today. This rule is first mentioned by Rabenu Tam (France, 1100-1171) who did not approve of utilizing a ring with a precious stone, because of the fear that a mistaken estimate of the stone's worth might lead to the nullification of the marriage (TB, Kiddushin 9a). Nonetheless, still in his lifetime and later on it is known that people continued to use marriage rings with precious stone (See: Zoldan, Marriage Sanctification with a stone set ring, pp. 71-78). The marriage contract from Krems may serve as evidence that in this area of Ashkenaz people continued to  use this kind of marriage ring adorned with a stone.

The bride’s right arm was drawn twice. The upper depiction is of an uncoloured right arm stretched forward, drawn only in plummet and black ink above the last three letters of the word: "Fifty" (וחמשים). The second right arm is depicted slightly below, stretched upwards toward the upper side of the frame, with her palm and fingers rendered like plants (executed in brush only with no pencil underneath).