Text panels nos. 3 and 4 (sheet 2) surrounded by hand-painted decoration.
Upper margin:
6. Beheading of the queen - Vashti is depicted here as a nude woman having solely the crown on her head (not mentioned in the text).
7. Likely courtyard in the king's palace where maidens are brought (Es. 2:8).
8. Two figures: a man in a long Oriental gown and a woman in a fashionable European dress. They can be Mordecai and Esther at the moment when he informs the queen about the chamberlains' plot against the king (Es. 2:21-22).
9. Two bodies suspending from the gallows - Bightan and Teresh hanged (Es. 2:23).
Lower margin:
6. Likely a group of maidens is brought to the palace (Es. 2:8).
7. A woman in a fashionable dress standing next to a big blossoming plant - Esther (?).
8. An unidentified scene of a banquet - the same as illustration no. 3 in the lower margin of the first membrane.
9. The king extends the scepter to a man - Ahasuerus promotes Haman to the position of vizier (Es. 3:1).
10. Two men approaching a gate (?) - an unidentified scene.
| Codex hebraicus 345
| Codex hebraicus 345
S | Soldier, warrior
B | Buildings
E | Esther, Book of (following the order of the story) | Esther and maiden(s) are brought to the palace (Es. 2:8)
E | Esther, Book of (following the order of the story) | Plot of Bightan and Teresh against King Ahasuerus (Es. 2:21)
E | Esther, Book of (following the order of the story) | Bigthan and Teresh hanged (Es. 2:23)
E | Esther, Book of (following the order of the story) | *Esther's Story Characters (depicted not in narrative scenes): | Esther, the queen
S | Scene, unidentified
E | Esther, Book of (following the order of the story) | Ahasuerus promotes Haman to the position of vizier (Es. 3:1)
C | Chinoiserie
W | Woman | Nude
|
The scroll is formed of 7 sheets containing 28 columns of the text with 17 lines except for col. 23 with 11 lines divided into two parts.
Each membrane contains 2 text panels with 4 columns of the text.
The text is inscribed in the Hebrew square Italian script, in black ink, on the flesh side of parchment membranes that is brighter than the blank side that is more yellow.
The letter ח (Es. 1:6) is highlighted by its form (it is formed of two elements joined with a roof) and size (it is larger than an average letter in the scroll). The letter ת is enlarged and bolded (Es. 9:29). Other enlarged and diminished letters are included in col. 23.
The ruling is slightly visible, in some places only.
The membranes in the scroll are stitched.
None
A similar megillah stored in the Library of Congress, the African and Middle Eastern Division in Washington (no. 038.00.00) is described: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/an-illuminated-megillah-judaic-treasures (accessed on 24.09.2020).
Hans-Walter Stork, Falk Wiesemann, Codex hebraicus 345, [in:] Irina Wandrey ed., Manuscript Cultures, vol. 6, 249-252.
Images of the scroll are available on https://resolver.sub.uni-hamburg.de/kitodo/PPN895256576 (accessed on 24.09.2020).