Img. ID: 18600
  Illuminated Manuscripts  

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Vol. II, fols. 279v-288: The twelve signs of the zodiac are each depicted within a medallion in the margins of twelve of the eighteen pages (fols. 280v, 281, 281v, 282v, 283v, 284, 285, 285v, 286v, 287, 287v, 288). They illustrate the corresponding Zodiac signs mentioned in the piyyut of Eleazar haKaliri for the prayer of rain  יפתח ארץ לישע (Let the earth open; Davidson, Thesaurus, י 3466) recited on Sukkot. The medallions are framed by a coloured or gold band surrounded by a lace-like wreath or radiating gold dots. The backgrounds are blue, red or tooled gold with all-over geometrical patterns (see Remarks).

II:285v (diameter: c.48 mm):

Scorpio (Marheshvan) is shown as a brown scorpion with three pairs of legs, two claws and a curved tail, on a hatched red ground within a medallion framed by a blue border. The medallion is surrounded by groups of alternating blue, red and green lines radiating from gold dots. The scorpion illustrates the adjacent text of the piyyut: כבמקום עקרב (As instead of scorpion). (The paint on the scorpion’s head is smeared)