Img. ID: 5303
On the right, there is a scene that is difficult to interpret. A person (a woman?, Queen Esther?) seated at a table who is accompanied by four men are shown; one of them stands next to the table. The scene on the left depicts the first Purim feast (Es. 9:17-23).
C | Columns
I | Illustration
V | Vase | Vase with flowers
O | Ornamentation: | Cartouche
B | Bird
F | Flower
A | Arch
|
The Book of Esther in Hebrew
The scroll is formed of 5 membranes containing 17 (?) text columns with 19 (?) lines per column except for col. 16 inscribed in 11 lines divided into two half-columns.
The text is inscribed in black ink, in Hebrew square Italian script on parchment membranes.
The membranes in the scroll are stitched together.
This image belongs to the ''Ursula and Kurt Schubert Archive'' in the Center for Jewish Art.
The scrolls decorated with this pattern are discussed in:
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.
Victor Klagsbald, Catalogue raisonné de la collection juive du Musée de Cluny, Paris 1981, p. 74-75, object 74.
A short description in French and several photographs are available on https://www.mahj.org/en/decouvrir-collections-betsalel/rouleau-d-esther-50121 (accessed on 24.05.2020).