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Obj. ID: 23161
Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts
  Liturgical Pentateuch, Germany, 14th-15th c.

© Center for Jewish Art, Photographer: Unknown,

Link to ONB's Database   


Documented from the archival document

Summary and Remarks

This liturgical manuscript of the 14th -15th century copied in Ashkenaz by a single scribe, used simple scribal decoration for catchwords and words of the last lines.

It is highly important for its original binding.

The manuscript was owned by different owners, one of them is Asher Moshe Shamash Ha-Shem. Jacob bar Asher Moshe Shamash Ha-Shem, probably the son of the owner of Cod. hebr. 13, who owned another manuscript from Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (hebr. 15), as it is written on fol. 1v. This codex is also liturgical Pentateuch done in Ashkenaz in the 14th century.  

 

Remarks

7 image(s)

sub-set tree:

Name/Title
Liturgical Pentateuch | Unknown
Object Detail
Monument Setting
Unknown
Date
14th-15th century
Synagogue active dates
Reconstruction dates
Artist/ Maker
Unknown
Origin
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community type
Unknown |
Congregation
Unknown
Site
Unknown
School/Style
Unknown|
Period
Unknown
Period Detail
Collection
Austria | Vienna | Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (ÖNB)
| Cod. hebr. 13 (Schwartz, No. 18)
Documentation / Research project
Unknown
Iconographical Subject
Unknown |
Textual Content
Unknown |
Languages of inscription
Unknown
Shape / Form
Unknown
Material / Technique
Material Stucture
Material Decoration
Material Bonding
Material Inscription
Material Additions
Material Cloth
Material Lining
Tesserae Arrangement
Density
Colors
Construction material
Measurements
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
0
Ornamentation
Custom
Contents
Pentateuch, Five scrolls, Haftarot, Job and Jeremiah 2:29 – 8:12, 9:24 – 10:16. Vocalized and punctuated. Pentateuch: Genesis (fols. 1 – 35v); Exodus (fols. 35v – 60); Leviticus (fols. 60v – 76v); Numbers (fols. 77 – 101); Deuteronomy (fols. 101 – 122v) Five scrolls: Song of Songs (fols. 122v – 124v); Ruth (fols. 124v – 126v); Lamentations (fols. 126v – 128v); Ecclesiastes (fols. 128v – 133); Esther (fols. 133 – 138) Haftarot (fols. 138 – 178v) Job (fols. 179 – 193v) Jeremiah, "Passages of Doom" 2:29 – 8:12, 9:24 – 10:16 (fols. 193v – 198)
Codicology

: Parchment, 198 or 200 leaves.                 

 

Measurements

 

Full page:  360 x 280 mm

 

Text space:  ? x ? mm   

 

Scribes

The manuscript is written by a single scribe.

 

Columns

The text is written in two columns, except for the first song of Moses (fols. 44-44v), the second song of Moses (fols. 120-121). The Song of Devorah (fols. 145v-146v) and Song of David (fols. 169v-170), all written in a brickwork pattern.

 

Script

The text is written in square Ashkenazi script in ?

 

Number of lines

The text is written in 28 lines per page.

 

Ruling

Stylus? on ? side:

29 lines per page (the last line is empty).

 

Pricking

The pricking is situated on the outer and inner margins. On the outer margins (only?) double pricks for special lines are found. Two lines (14th and 15th) in the middle of the leaves are double-pricked and one line (27) at the lower part is double pricked. At the upper part?  These lines are drawn right across the width of the sheet?

This practice is common in Ashkenaz as early as the time of the earliest manuscripts (Beit-Arié, Codicology, p. 71).  

 

Quires

25 quires of 8 leaves each. First and last leaves are not numbered and are past to the inner side of the binding like paste down.

 

The hair and flesh sides of the parchment are hardly discernable.

 

 

 

Catchwords

The catchwords are written in the lower left hand corner on the final verso of each quire, except for quire XVIII. Mostly, they are horizontal and are surrounded by decoration. The catchwords of the XIII and XVII quires (fols. 103 and 135) are vertical.

 

Hebrew numeration

None

 

Blank leaves

None

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
Fol. 198: The scribe added a blessing at the last two lines of the final text column of the manuscript. Starting with the words: חזק ונתחזק "Strength and be strong", written in display script, and continues with the words: ברוך הנותן ליעף כח "He giveth power to the faint", written in the regular size of script. The notes, correcting and completing the text, are written in square and semi-cursive Ashkenazi script in Ink color? on the margins and in the spaces between the columns. Usually, the places in the text where the missing words should be inserted are marked by a small circle with a tail. It seems that these corrections were done by the scribe himself in his proofreading of the text he copied. This conclusion can be made on the basis of the similarity of the script in the text to that of the correction. In addition, the scribe used the same graphic fillers (for preventing the left margins from being exceeded) both in the main text and in the margins. The filler is composed of a horizontal short line with dot in the centre and a small hook under the dot, a device used as well in the marginal notes (see fols. 51 and 143). In the last line of first column of fol. 180 there is scribe's inscription: "חצי ספר איוב" (“the middle of the book of Job”).
Watermark
Hallmark
Group
Group
Group
Group
Group
Trade Mark
Binding

Late Gothic leather binding was made around 1400 (?). Brown leather is attached to the wooden cover with edges, which were cut irregularly.

The front cover is divided into two horizontal fields: in the upper field there is the scene of a hunt composed of four riders, who convey falcons. The riders are dressed according to the fashion of the period (ca. 1400); three riders at the front are with animal's and bird's heads. The free area inside the scene (?) contains five depictions of animals (dog, donkey and cat???). The lower field is decorated with two pairs of dragons, standing on opposite the other.  Their tails and tongues end with foliage.

The back cover is undecorated. There are traces of five hexagonal concave objects, of two long closures, and of chain's holdfast. Nails on the edges were preserved. In 1918 the binding was restored.    

Decoration Program
  1. Initial word decorated with wriggle line appears on fol. 149.
  2. Decorated catchwords are mostly embellished with frames and floral motifs (e.g. fols. 15v, 31v).
  3. A few parashah signs are decorated with v-shaped strokes (e.g. fol. 33v).
  4. On the lower margins, decorative curls embellish the bottom of some letters of the last text's line (e.g. fol. 8). Sometimes, they continue the descenders of the letters, but in other cases, they have no connection to the letters, and they appear as a pair, one near the other (e.g. fol. 18).
  5. The text at the end of each book of the Pentateuch, the end of the Five Scrolls, and the end of the Haftarot is shaped in geometrical form (e.g. fol. 35v).     

 

Suggested Reconsdivuction
History/Provenance
The first flyleaf is inscribed at the upper part of the page in small semi-cursive script in ? ink colour: "יתמי ה"ר חיים ז"ל" “Orphans of the late R. Hayyim” Fol. 1 is inscribed at the upper part of the page in small semi-cursive script in in ? ink colour: "זה הספר של יורשי ר' חיים..." “This book belongs to descenders of R. Hayyim…” Fol. 198 is inscribed at the upper part of the page in small semi-cursive script in in ? ink colour: "הספר יורשי כהח"ר חיים זצ"ל" “The book is of descenders of R. Hayyim…” Fol. 198 is inscribed at the upper left corner of the page in small square script in in ? ink colour: "אשר משה שמש השם" “Asher Moshe Shamash Ha-Shem” (See Remarks) Fol. 198 is inscribed at the lower left corner of the page in small semi-cursive script in in ? ink colour: "י"ב מנ'" The manuscript was housed in the Library of Collegium Ducale in Vienna (on fol. 198v there is the inscription: Liber Collegii Ducalis Viennae) corresponding to the signatures Nr. 19 (?) and Nr. 43. Other signatures Nr. 41 (on fol. 198v) and Nr. 43 (on fol. 1) are cancelled. The manuscript probably belonged to the Old University Library of the Court Library in Vienna (Schwartz, Catalogue, p. 17).
Main Surveys & Excavations
Sources
Schwarz, Catalogue, no. 18.
Type
Photograph of archival document
Documenter
Ilona Steimann | 20.03.2005
Author of description
Ilona Steimann | 01.04.2005
Architectural Drawings
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Computer Reconstruction
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Section Head
Michal Sternthal | 19.04.2005
Language Editor
Judith Cardozo | 20.04.2005
Donor
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Negative/Photo. No.
The following information on this monument will be completed:
Unknown |