Img. ID: 332850
Illustration no. 10 is placed between text columns nos. 5 and 6. It is labeled in Hebrew ותעמד בחצר ("and stood in the [inner] court", Es. 5:1) and depicts the moment when Esther approaches the king's chamber (Es. 5:2).
Queen Esther is shown as a bride with a bouquet of flowers, dressed in a long robe and a veil, which is held by a young girl. Behind her stands a crowned guard with a spear. The king sits on the throne placed in a niche, with a dog at his feet, and two guards. The architecture of the king's palace is presented as a mixture of Egyptian (columns, portal) and Assyrian motifs (lions relief on the wall, Lamassu - human-headed winged bulls - at the staircase).
The scroll is preserved intact.
The Book of Esther in Hebrew
The scroll is formed of 3 paper sheets containing 12 columns of the text with 42 lines, except for col. 10 with 11 lines divided into two parts.
The text of the Book of Esther with the vocalization is printed in the Ashkenazi stam script with tagin, in black ink. It reflects the text copied by an expert scribe and it shows scribal practices of typical Ashkenazi megillot, e.g. enlarged and diminished letters in Haman's sons section, enlarged letters ח (Es. 1:6) and ת (Es. 9:29).
A short biography and Geismar's immigration card are available https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/bearing-witness/esther-scroll.asp (accessed on 24.10.2020).
Other exemplars of the megillah sharing the same illustrations are stored in the Jewish Museum in Prague (inv. nos. 095.541, 084.999, and 178.216 - ID no. 36312), in the MAHJ in Paris (Inv. 2009.17.015 and Inv. 2000.16.169), in the JTS Library in New York (S282 and S474), and other institutional and private collections.
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