Obj. ID: 20161
Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts Fugger's Eighth Miscellany on Kabbalah, Venice, c.1549
Fol. 174: The title of the treatise Sod ha-Geula (סוד הגאולה; Secret of Salvation) is written in display script by Yishai ben Yehiel in the upper part of the page. The letters are decorated with acanthus scrolls and ribbon-like motifs; a rabbit and a human face are in the foot of the second and third letters (ג and א).
Yaakov ben Yosef appears in BSB Cod.hebr. 12, 15, 17, 22, 24, 27, 31, 32, 40, 43, 48, 49, 52, 57, 58, 62, 73; Scribe4 inBSB Cod.hebr. 24, 52 and 62; and Yishai ben Yehiel in BSB Cod.hebr. 7, 19, 26, 28, 30, 31, 33, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 50, 52, 56, 58, 62, 64, 68.
2 image(s)
sub-set tree:
Watermarks: A trefoil flower between 'P' and '3' in the outer corner of the folio (32 mm; e.g. fols. 1, 13, 20, 41, 62, 74, 97, 127b, 130, 177, 182, 236, 266): similar to Harlfinger 1974-80, Lettres 75 (Venice, 1548, 1550).
Text space: Yaakov ben Yosef: (238-239) x (135-137) mm.
Scribe 4: 239 x (138-141) mm.
Yishai ben Yehiel: (239-240) x (140-142) mm.
Green leather on wooden boards (350 x241 mm); gold-tooled with a central roundel on the front and a shield on the back cover within an undulating lozenge in a large rectangle, decorated with floral motifs at the centre of each side and at the corners. The front roundel is inscribed קבלה, above is the letter צ and below is a V (first signature of the Fugger library). The spine, blind-tooled with hatching, has four hidden cords and head and tail bands. On the edges of the front cover are vestiges of four groups of three plaited leather bands; two on the side edge and one each on the upper and lower edges, with corresponding holes for four nails on the edges of the back cover (for preserved bands see Cod.hebr. 301). Each group of three bands terminated in a ring intended to hook over the nails on the opposite cover. The leaves are gilt-edged.
This binding was executed for Fugger by the ‘Fugger Binder’ in Venice(Hobson 1999:119-129). Similar bindings in BSB: e.g. Cod.hebr. 12, 15, 23, 62.
Watermarks on flyleaves: A star above an anchor within a circle at the centre of the folio (65 mm; front and back cover flyleaves): similar to Harlfinger 1974-80, Ancre 24-31 (Venice, 1556).
The decoration is by Yaakov ben Yosef and Yishai ben Yehiel:
Decorative titles written in display letters by Yaakov ben Yosef (fol. 1; for similar titles, captions and initial words see BSB, Cod.hebr. 15, fol. 245; Cod.hebr. 17, fol. 169; Cod.hebr. 22, fols. 1, 70, 81; Cod.hebr. 24, fols. 165, 213; Cod.hebr. 32, fol. 1; Cod.hebr. 40, fols. 160, 161, 219, 219v; Cod.hebr. 48, fol. 1; Cod.hebr. 52, fol. 1; Cod.hebr. 62, fols. 1, 183) and by Yishai ben Yehiel (fol. 174).