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© Gross Family Collection, Photographer: Unknown, -

The following description was prepared by William Gross:

Micrography, the scribal practice of employing minuscule script to delineate shapes or figural designs, is an art form that has been used by Jews for over a millennium. In fact an original art form created by Jewish scribes, this intricate decorative technique was first practiced in the tenth century in Egypt and the Land of Israel. It developed within the Islamic cultural milieu in which the written word was frequently transformed into elaborate decorative patterns.

Much of the earliest micrography we have is found in biblical codices. These Bibles in book form were not subject to the stringent rabbinical rules that applied to the writing and form of a Torah scroll, whether the arrangement of text of the form of the letters. They also were unaffected by any prohibition against ornamentation, and thus offered the scribe considerable latitude in arranging and decorating their text.

By the early thirteenth century, micrography appeared in Europe in the Sephardic manuscripts of Spain and Portugal as well as in Ashkenazic works produced in Northern Europe. While manuscript production on the whole declined in the sixteenth century, micrography continued to be used to on Ketubot (marriage contracts) and wall hangings. From the seventeenth century onward, scribes who practiced the art of micrography favored the texts of the five Megillot, Psalms and Proverbs as the basis of their art.

In 1798, the invention of lithography extended the micrographic arts beyond the exclusive realm of one-of-a-kind manuscripts. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the mass production of micrographic prints allowed this ancient art form to reach a much broader Jewish audience. These prints encompassed a wide variety of themes; biblical portraits and vignettes as well as panoramas of the holy sites of Israel were especially popular. Famous rabbinic, political and literary personalities such as Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Lyady, Theodor Herzl and Hayyim Nahman Bialik, were also favored subjects, whose micrographic portraits were rendered from the texts of their own books and poems.

Very fine script in interesting design.

Name/Title
| Unknown
Object Detail
Settings
Unknown
Date
circa 1850
Active dates
Reconstruction dates
Artist/ Maker
Unknown (Unknown)
Origin
Italy
| ?
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community type
Congregation
Unknown
Location
Unknown |
Site
Unknown
School/Style
Unknown|
Period
Unknown
Period Detail
Collection
Documentation / Research project
Unknown
Material / Technique
Paper, Ink, Written
Material Stucture
Material Decoration
Material Bonding
Material Inscription
Material Additions
Material Cloth
Material Lining
Tesserae Arrangement
Density
Colors
Construction material
Measurements
Height: 21 cm, Width: 25.6 cm
Height
Length
Width
Depth
Circumference
Thickness
Diameter
Weight
Axis
Panel Measurements
Condition
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
Codicology
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
Scribal Notes
Watermark
Hallmark
Group
Group
Group
Group
Group
Trade Mark
Binding
Decoration Program
Summary and Remarks
Remarks
Suggested Reconsdivuction
History/Provenance
Main Surveys & Excavations
Bibliography
Short Name
Full Name
Volume
Page
Type
Documenter
|
Author of description
William Gross |
Architectural Drawings
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Computer Reconstruction
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Section Head
|
Language Editor
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Donor
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Negative/Photo. No.
Gross_078.011.021