Sheet no. 2
The fourth roundel is decorated with various birds, griffins, and roses.
On the right, seven women are shown - they are Esther's maidservants (Es. 2:9), below them, there are three musicians. Below them, an unidentified scene can be seen. It depicts the king traveling in a carriage.
On the left, there are men and women seated at a long table set with food - possibly it depicts the first feast given by Esther (Es. 5:5-8). Below them, there are three musicians and below them, Haman is begging Esther for mercy (Es. 7:8). All three depictions are partly visible in the image.
M | Musical Instruments
P | Parrot
O | Owl
C | Cock (Hen, Rooster)
F | Flower | Rose
E | Esther, Book of (following the order of the story) | Seven maidens given to Esther (Es. 2:9)
S | Scene, unidentified
E | Esther, Book of (following the order of the story) | Esther's first banquet (Es. 5:5-8)
E | Esther, Book of (following the order of the story) | Haman begging for his life (Es. 7:8)
I | Instruments and Tools | Carriage
H | Horse
O | Ornamentation: | Main text framed
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The manuscript is very well preserved.
The Book of Esther in Hebrew
The scroll is formed of 5 sheets, in total containing 13 text panels with 23 or 24 lines of different lengths, except for col. 11 which has 11 lines divided into two half-columns.
The number of columns of text per sheet: nos. 1-3 - 2 columns, no. 4 - 3 columns, no. 5 - 4 columns; 9 of them are framed in roundels.
The text is written in Hebrew square Ashkenazi script in brown ink on parchment membranes.
The letters ח (Es. 1:6) and ת (Es. 9:29) are slightly larger than an average letter in the scroll. Other enlarged and diminished letters are included in col. 11.
The letters of the name of God are marked with tagin bent to the right.
Col. 10 contains numerous elongated letters.
There are some corrections and erasures in the text.
The ruling is made with a hard point, but it is barely visible.
The pricking on the membranes' edges can be seen.
The membranes of the scroll are glued together.
None
It seems that this scroll and two other scrolls featuring the same style (see "Related objects) were executed by the same artist, although two of them are decorated with roundels, while the third one is decorated with octagons.
It seems that the final part of the manuscript was painted by another artist than the main part of the decorations.
A short description of the scroll and its images are available on https://data.jck.nl/page/aggregation/jhm-museum/M000440 (accessed on 9.08.2021).