Img. ID: 19194
Vol. I, fol. 6: The word Tevah (תיבה, ark) is written above the illustration to Parashat Noah (Gen. 6:9 – 11:32) in gold leaf on a greenish-blue ground, set below the explicit (חסלת בראשית ברא) and its haftarah (ומפטירין בישעיה כה אמר האל ה').
The panel depicts Noah in the ark receiving the dove, illustrating the commentary (I:7v) of the biblical text (Gen. 8: 10-11).
The ark, floating on blue waves, consists of a central structure flanked by wings, the whole placed on a boat. Slit openings pierce the three sectiones, and two round windows flank the larger central opening in which Noah appears, stretching his hand out towards a blue dove with an olive branch in its beak. He is wearing a pale green tunic and has yellow hair.
The central part of the ark has a gabled roof and the two wings each have a lean-to roof sloping the opposite way from that of the central structure. The roof is chequered in red and the base is yellow; the entire structure has turned grey. The boat and the base of the central part are uncoloured.
The diagonal cornice of the ark's pediment divides the word תיבה into two syllables. This suggests that the word was written by the main scribe after the drawing was done, but before it was coloured, since the blue wing of the dove overlaps the gold letter ת. The shapes of the individual letters are similar to those of the main scribe, although the laying of the gold has caused some distortion of the last letter ה.
| Cod. hebr. 5/I-II (Steinschneider 1895, No. 5)
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Fig. 1: Noah's ark, Munich Rashi's Commentary on the Bible, Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 5, I:6 |
Fig. 2: Noah's ark, mosaic, Monreale Cathedral, c.1186 on (Kitzinger 1960, pl. 26) |
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Fig. 3: Noah's ark, Dialogus de Laudibus Sanctae Crucis, Regensburg, c.1170-1180, Munich, BSB clm. 14159, fol. 1v (Klemm 1980, Cat. 35, fig. 66) |
Fig. 4: Noah's ark, The Ingeborg Psalter, North-east France, c.1200, New York, PML M.338, fol. 111, (Ingeborg Psalter, facsimile 1985) |
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| Fig. 5: Noah's ark, The North French Hebrew Miscellany, c.1280, London, BL Add. 11639, fol. 521, (Schonfield, facsimile 2003, p. 100) |
The ark (fig. 1) belongs to a type which combines hull and a superstructure with a gabled roof, which is found in 12th-century Sicilian mosaics such as Monreale (fig. 2; D'Emilio 1999, pp. 135-150). However, as Metzger (Metzger 1985, p. 541) already noted, there is no sign of any internal division of the ark as explained by Rashi (I:6-6v), hence the shape of the ark is influenced by visual models. Fig. 1: Noah's ark Fig. 2: Noah's ark, mosaic Munich Rashi's Commentary on the Bible Monreale Cathedral, c.1186 on Munich, BSB Cod. hebr. 5, I:6 (Kitzinger 1960, pl. 26) Other images of Noah’s ark in the combined form are well known in 12th and 13th-century illumination in Germany, for example in the Dialogus de Laudibus Sanctae Crucis from Regensburg of c.1170-1180 (fig.3), though here with a church-like structure. Fig. 3: Noah's ark Fig. 4: Noah's ark Dialogus de Laudibus Sanctae Crucis The Ingeborg Psalter Regensburg, c.1170-1180 North-east France, c.1200 Munich, BSB clm. 14159, fol. 1v New York, PML M.338, fol. 111 (Klemm 1980, Cat. 35, fig. 66) (Ingeborg Psalter, facsimile 1985) A similar combination is also common in many 13th-century Bibles produced in France, e.g. in the Ingeborg Psalter of c.1200 (fig. 4), where the dove with the olive branch in its beak resembles our illustration. Fig. 5: Noah's ark The North French Hebrew Miscellany, c.1280 London, BL Add. 11639, fol. 521 (Schonfield, facsimile 2003, p. 100) The olive branch in the dove’s beak also features in The North French Hebrew Miscellany of c.1280 (fig. 5). However, this Hebrew manuscript is later than ours and the shape of the ark differs considerably.