In the upper margin, landscapes nos. 3, 4, and 1 are printed and in the lower margin, there are frames nos. 3-5.
Frame 3: The frame contains the depiction of the walled city. In the central part of the wall, there is a gate at which a man (Mordecai) is seated (Es. 2:19, 2:21).
Frame 4: In the frame, a wedding ceremony of Ahasuerus and Esther is represented. The scene is witnessed by a group of men and women standing on the right and a group of women standing on the left. The Book of Esther does not mention this episode and the source for this representation remains unknown. It can be influenced by European paintings in which the scene of the marriage of the Virgin Mary and Josef was similarly composed. This can also explain the dress of a man standing in the center that refers to the high priest's robes. The same theme, although illustrated in a slightly different way, can be found in the "Esther scrolls with portrait medallions" and their copies made by hand, as well as in the scrolls designed by Marcus Donath (Mordecai ben Jozl Sofer) of Nitra (see their descriptions in the Index).
Frame 5: On the left, a man with a bow in his hands is depicted. He is aiming at the wheel with the signs of Zodiac on its perimeter. The depiction symbolically shows the moment of casting lots by Haman (alludes to Es. 3:7). The Book of Esther mentions only casting lots that means appointing the least favorable period for Jews, but there is no reference to the signs of Zodiac in the text.
An average letter in the scroll is 2 mm high.
The case: 330 mm (height), 55 mm (diameter).
G | Garland
P | Putto (Putti in Plural)
L | Landscape
E | Esther, Book of (following the order of the story) | Ahasuerus' and Esther's wedding
E | Esther, Book of (following the order of the story) | Haman casting the lot/Pur - Haman aiming at the Zodiac wheel (based on Midrash)
E | Esther, Book of (following the order of the story) | Mordecai at the king's gate (Es. 2:19 and/or 2:21)
V | Vase
B | Basket | Basket with flowers
A | Acanthus Leaf
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The lower margins are not straight.
The opening decoration is crumpled.
The sheets are sewn together in a not aesthetic manner.
Book of Esther in Hebrew with the initial benedictions recited before the Megillah reading
The scroll is formed of 4 sheets containing a total of 16 columns of the text with 22 lines per each, except for col. 14 which includes 11 lines divided into two half-columns. Additionally, initial benedictions are written within the opening decoration.
Every sheet contains 4 columns of text.
The text is written in Hebrew square Ashkenazi script in brown ink on the flesh side of parchment sheets that are rather bright and smooth.
The scroll starts with an enlarged word ויהי.
The letters ח (Es. 1:6) and ת (Es. 9:29) are enlarged; the first of them is additionally highlighted by its form. Other enlarged and diminished letters are included in col. 14.
Col. 14 includes unusual and decorative letters פ.
The ruling - horizontal and vertical lines - is made with a hardpoint and barely visible. The horizontal lines are well visible on the blank side of the membranes.
The pricking is invisible.
The sheets in the scroll are stitched together.
There are ligatures of א and ל letters in the benedictions.
There are two variants of the scrolls decorated with this pattern that in the Index are marked "I" and "II". In some exemplars, just below the decorative herms, the pedestals with angel's heads and bases were added, therefore, the text panels are higher; this type is marked with "II". Whereas, the rest of the manuscripts containing no pedestals with angel's heads and bases are marked with "I". The latter are more numerous.
The earliest scroll sharing similar engraved pattern is dated to 1701; this is the megillah BCM 25 from the Braginsky Collection in Zurich (see http://braginskycollection.com/esther-scrolls/; accessed on 22.04.2020).
Similar narrative scenes are included in the scrolls with "portrait medallions" (see in the Index); some of them are their mirror image.
A short description of the scroll and its images are available on https://data.jck.nl/page/aggregation/jhm-museum/M000413 (accessed on 10.07.2021).
Other scrolls sharing the same or similar pattern are discussed for example in:
A Journey through Jewish Worlds: Highlights from the Braginsky Collection of Hebrew Manuscripts and Printed Books, eds. Evelyn M. Cohen, Emile Schrijver, Sharon Liberman Mintz, Amsterdam 2009, 234-237.
Schöne Seiten. Jüdische Schriftkultur aus der Braginsky Collection, eds. Emile Schrijver, Falk Wiesemann, Evelyn M. Cohen, Sharon Liberman Mintz, Menahem Schmeltzer, Zurich 2011, 282-283.
Victor Klagsbald, Catalogue raisonné de la collection juive du Musée de Cluny, Paris 1981, 63-64, object 72.
Dagmara Budzioch, The Decorated Esther Scrolls from the Museum of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw and the Tradition of Megillot Esther Decoration in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries – An Outline [Polish: Dekorowane zwoje Estery z Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego w Warszawie na tle tradycji dekorowania megilot Ester w XVII i XVIII wieku. Zarys problematyki], Warsaw 2019, 1:163-176, 2:41-49.
Jiřina Šedinová, From the Mss. Collections of the State Jewish Museum in Prague. The Scrolls of Esther, "Judaica Bohemiae" 1979, nr 15/2, 79-80.
Olga Sixtova, O svitku / Form of the Scroll [katalog k výstavě konané v Galerii Roberta Guttmanna Židovského muzea v Praze od 22. června do 26. července 2006], Praha 2006, 37.