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Img. ID: 346478

© Dagmara Budzioch, Photographer: Budzioch, Dagmara, 11.2015

The scroll opens with a prefatory panel with a depiction of Esther and Mordecai, both clothed in Oriental garments. Esther sits on the throne on the left (her name in Hebrew characters is placed below the throne) with the Purim letter on her lap and gestures vividly with her left hand. Before her, Mordecai is standing. His name is written in Hebrew characters on the right margin, outside the decoration. It is followed by the next two decorative prefatory panels with the Hebrew inscription in large, hand-drawn, and painted letters. The first of them is surrounded with rosettes and filled with the inscription: מגלת אסתר המלכה ומרדכי היהודי which continues in the next panel: בן יאיר בן שמעי בן קיש; the rosettes appear in the second panel too. Similar letters can be seen around the second of the prefatory panels and along the whole length of the upper and lower margins of the scroll. 

Name/Title
JMNY Rosettes Esther Scroll with an Illustration | Unknown
Object Detail
prefatory panels
Settings
Unknown
Date
Mid-19th - 20th century
Synagogue active dates
Reconstruction dates
Artist/ Maker
Origin
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 and tempera on parchment + wood
Material Stucture
Material Decoration
Material Bonding
Material Inscription
Material Additions
Material Cloth
Material Lining
Tesserae Arrangement
Density
Colors
Construction material
Measurements
The scroll: ca. 100 x ca. 2005 mm.
The length of the sheets in the scroll: 1) ca. 540 mm, 2) 455 mm, 3) 370 mm, 4) ca. 330 mm, 5) ca. 340 mm.
Dimensions of the selected details in the scroll:
- opening decoration: 63x55 mm;
- margins: max. 20 mm (height);
- panel filled with rosettes: 66x15 mm (outer dimensions);
- text panel: 63x60 mm (inner dimensions);
- an average letter: 2 mm (height);
- decorative letters on the margins: 11-12 mm;
- spaces between the lines of the text: 1-2 mm.

The roller: 222 mm (height).
Height
Length
Width
Depth
Circumference
Thickness
Diameter
Weight
Axis
Panel Measurements
Condition

The scroll (the text, decorations, and parchments) is very well preserved, except for the edges of the first membrane that are slightly damaged. Also, the beginning of the fourth membrane is torn and it is repaired with tape.

The beginning of the manuscript is darker than the rest.

The roller is slightly damaged.

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 with two prefatory panels and the traditional genealogies of Mordecai and Haman written in the margins

Codicology

The scroll is formed of 5 sheets containing a total of 24 columns of the text with 15-20 lines, except for col. 20 with 11 lines divided into two half-columns.

The number columns per membrane: no. 1 - 4 (+ 2 prefatory panels), no. 2 - 6, no. 3 - 5, no. 4 - 4, no. 5 - 5.

The text is inscribed in the Hebrew square Oriental script with tagin in dense black ink on the flesh side of the parchment membranes that are thin and smooth. Both sides are similar, but on the blank side, traces of animal hair are visible.

The letters ח (Es. 1:6) and ת (Es. 9:29) are enlarged. Other enlarged and diminished letters are included in col. 20.

The text contains numerous elongated letters.

The ruling is made with a hard point.

The pricking is 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

Several scrolls decorated in a similar way are stored in private (e.g. BCM 75, Braginksy Collection, Zurich) and institutional collections (see "Related objects"), however, not all of them bear the note of Isaac Meir Hayyim Moses Gabbai of Baghdad and only the convergence of their style allows to attribute them to this artist-scribe. No other scroll sharing the same ornamentation contains a figurative scene. 

For other scrolls decorated with Hebrew letters on the margins see "Amalek scrolls" in the Index.

The ink used in the scroll is shiny.

The seal of the Museum and the number of the manuscript on the blank side of the first membrane can be seen. 

Remarks
Suggested Reconsdivuction
History/Provenance
Main Surveys & Excavations
Bibliography

No bibliography on the manuscript is available but other scrolls featuring similar pattern are described in:

Schöne Seiten. Jüdische Schriftkultur aus der Braginsky Collection, eds. E. Schrijver, F. Wiesemann, E.M. Cohen, S. Liberman Mintz, M. Schmeltzer, Zurich 2011, 306‒307.

A Journey through Jewish Worlds: Highlights from the Braginsky Collection of Hebrew Manuscripts and Printed Books, eds. E.M. Cohen, E. Schrijver, S. Liberman Mintz, Amsterdam 2009, 272–273.

Isaiah Shachar, Jewish Tradition in Art, the Feuchtwanger Collection of Judaica, Jerusalem 1971, 158, object 417.

Chaja Benjamin, The Stieglitz Collection: Masterpieces of Jewish Art, Jerusalem 1987, object 191.

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.
M002958