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Img. ID: 346117

© Jewish Museum in London (JML), Photographer: N/A, -

The first and the second columns of text (sheet no. 1) are inscribed within the printed border. In the lower margin, the first two frames are placed:

Frame 1 (right): On the right, King Ahasuerus and several men are seated at a table; two of them can be guards. Three servants with plates are approaching the table (Es. 1:3-8). On the left, several buildings are depicted.

Frame 2 (left): On the right, Queen Vashti and several women are seated at a long table (Es. 1:9). Four men, possibly servants, stand before the table. On the left, buildings are depicted and three figures in front of them are shown - they can be servants who are leading the queen out from the palace.

Name/Title
JML Griselini-Related Esther Scroll | Unknown
Object Detail
cols. 1 and 2
Settings
Unknown
Date
Mid-18th century
Synagogue active dates
Reconstruction dates
Artist/ Maker
Unknown (Unknown)
Origin
Italy | Veneto | Venice
| (?)
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community type
Unknown |
Congregation
Unknown
Location
Unknown |
Site
Unknown
School/Style
Unknown|
Period
Unknown
Period Detail
Documentation / Research project
Unknown
Material / Technique
Ink on parchment (printed border, handwritten text) + wood
Material Stucture
Material Decoration
Material Bonding
Material Inscription
Material Additions
Material Cloth
Material Lining
Tesserae Arrangement
Density
Colors
Construction material
Measurements
The scroll:300 x ca. 2435 mm.
Length of the sheets in the scroll: 1) 540 mm, 2) 465 mm, 3) 465 mm, 4) 465 mm, 5) ca. 500 mm + a narrow strip of parchment joining the scroll with a roller.
Dimensions of the selected details in the scroll:
- the print is 460 mm (width);
- frame with the narrative scene(s): 28x75 mm;
- an average letter: 3 mm (height).

The roller: ca. 470 mm.
Height
Length
Width
Depth
Circumference
Thickness
Diameter
Weight
Axis
Panel Measurements
Condition

The manuscript is well preserved. Only the first sheet is slightly damaged and some damages are visible in the text too.

Extant
Documented by CJA
Surveyed by CJA
Present Usage
Present Usage Details
Condition of Building Fabric
Architectural Significance type
Historical significance: Event/Period
Historical significance: Collective Memory/Folklore
Historical significance: Person
Architectural Significance: Style
Architectural Significance: Artistic Decoration
Urban significance
Significance Rating
Textual Content
Unknown |
Languages of inscription
Unknown
Shape / Form
Unknown
0
Ornamentation
Custom
Contents

The Book of Esther in Hebrew

Codicology

The scroll is formed of 5 sheets containing a total of 20 columns of text with 23 lines each, except for col. 17 with 11 lines divided into two half-columns. In the first line of the column, only one or two words are written. 

The last several lines in col. 16 are penned in very narrow letters. In col. 17, above the names of Haman's sons, several lines of the text are inscribed. It seems this section was erased and copied again in col. 16, therefore the letters must be very narrow to fit the column.

Every sheet contains 4 columns of text.

The text is inscribed in the Hebrew square Italian script with tagin, in black ink on the flesh side of the parchment membranes that is bright and matt. The blank side of the sheets is very different - it is yellow, very smooth, and traces of hair are well visible. 

The letter ח (Es. 1:6) is highlighted by its form - it contains two elements joined with a roof and it is larger than an average letter in the scroll. The letter ת (Es. 9:29) is enlarged and bolded. Other enlarged and diminished letters are included in col. 17.

The ruling and pricking are invisible.

The membranes in the scroll are stitched together.

Scribes
Script
Number of Lines
Ruling
Pricking
Quires
Catchwords
Hebrew Numeration
Blank Leaves
Direction/Location
Façade (main)
Endivances
Location of Torah Ark
Location of Apse
Location of Niche
Location of Reader's Desk
Location of Platform
Temp: Architecture Axis
Arrangement of Seats
Location of Women's Section
Direction Prayer
Direction Toward Jerusalem
Coin
Coin Series
Coin Ruler
Coin Year
Denomination
Signature
Colophon

None

Scribal Notes
Watermark
Hallmark
Group
Group
Group
Group
Group
Trade Mark
Binding
Decoration Program
Summary and Remarks

Blots of ink are visible on some frames surrounding the illustrations.

Remarks
Suggested Reconsdivuction
History/Provenance
Main Surveys & Excavations
Bibliography
No bibliography on the scroll is available but scrolls sharing the same pattern are discussed for example in:

Victor Klagsbald, Catalogue raisonné de la collection juive du Musée de Cluny, Paris 1981, p. 66-67, object 74.

Mendel Metzger, The Earliest Engraved Italian Megilloth, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 1966, 48/2, 381–432, esp. 416-432 (here the scrolls are called "post-Griselini").

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, 1:135-138.

Short Name
Full Name
Volume
Page
Type
Documenter
Dagmara Budzioch | 2021
Author of description
Dagmara Budzioch | 2021
Architectural Drawings
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Computer Reconstruction
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Section Head
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Language Editor
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Donor
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Negative/Photo. No.
M002693