Obj. ID: 4093
Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts  Red Dragon Pentateuch, Germany, 13th c.

The mutilated Liturgical Pentateuch contains the Pentateuch with Haftarot, Five Scrolls and most of Job, which was recited on Ninth Ab. Some quires at the beginning and end are lost: the book of Genesis and half of Exodus, and the final chapters of Job (up to 36:2, out of 42 chapters) and probably the "Passages of Doom" (Jeremiah 2:29 - 8:12, 9:24 - 10:16) which usually appear after Job in other Liturgical Pentateuchs (cf.Vienna, ÖNB Cod. Hebr. 6, 13 and 14). The choice and order of the Haftarot in our manuscript are according to the Ashkenazi rite, although their position immediately after the Pentateuch is uncommon. In other Ashkenazi manuscripts, like those from Vienna mentioned above, the Haftarot are placed between the Five Scrolls and Job. The order of the Five Scrolls also differs in various manuscripts (cf. Ginsburg 1966, I:3-4), though it usually begins with the Song of Songs.      

Most of the decoration of the manuscript is at the openings of the various books of the Pentateuch and the Five Scrolls with frames and arches enclosing the text, having dragons attached to them or forming the letters of the initial words.

The decoration was undoubtedly executed by the scribe Baruch. The proof is an uncoloured scribal line-filler on fol. 118v shaped as a small dragon with protruding tongue, which is similar in style to the dragons decorating the openings of different books. The decorated ink drawings by the scribe Baruch were executed while copying the text and their shape sometimes determined the text lay-out (e.g. fol. 37v). The decorative motifs or the ground were coloured red after the text was copied. The drawing on fol. 157 remained uncoloured.

Decoration similar to that in our Pentateuch is found in one group of Ashkenazi manuscripts from the second half of the 13th century. Semi-circular arches emerging from dragons which enclose initial words (fig. 1) appear for example in the Stuttgart Mahzor (fig. 2; Sed-Rajna 1989:68). The origin of this group, albeit not yet proved, seems to be theRhineland(Sed-Rajna 1994:205). On the other hand, it should be mentioned that other compositions in our manuscript, as the dragons surmounting the arch (fig. 3), recall those placed in the spandrels of a manuscript fromFranconia(fig. 4). The arches and frames are commonly decorated with acanthus scrolls, or chains of heart-shaped leaves (figs. 3-4).

Another interesting feature in our manuscript is the dragons and dragon's heads shaping the letters of some initial words, especially their top (figs. 3 and 5). Such zoomorphic letters rarely appear in Ashkenazi manuscripts (fig. 6; cf. Sed-Rajna 1994:205-208), though they are common in Sephardi ones (cf. figs. 7-8).

Fig. 1: Red Dragon Pentateuch Munich, BSB Cod.hebr. 14, fol. 151v	Fig. 2:Stuttgart Mahzor Rhineland, second half of the 13th century Stuttgart, Landesbibliothek Cod. Or. 20 42, fol. 46 (Sed-Rajna 1989:68)
Fig. 3: Red Dragon Pentateuch Munich, BSB Cod.hebr. 14, fol. 17	Fig. 4: Siddur Franconia, first quarter of the 14th century Oxford, Bodl. Lib.Mich.571, fol. 2 (Jerusalem, CJA Documentation)
Fig. 5: Red Dragon Pentateuch Munich, BSB Cod.hebr. 14, fol. 37v	Fig. 6: Mahzor Rhineland (?), c.1264 Paris, BnF hébreu 644, fol. 67 (Sed-Rajna 1994:207)

Fig. 7: Red Dragon Pentateuch Munich, BSB Cod.hebr. 14, fol. 17, detail	Fig. 8:Hamilton Siddur Spain, 1300 Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Ham. 288, detail (Narkiss 1969, pl. 7)

The codicological features of the codex, e.g. similar treatment for hair and flesh sides of the parchment, pricking in the outer margins only and ruling by stylus, point to the transitional period for those techniques during the second half of the 13th century (Beit-Arié 1976:22-25, 70-71, 74).

Two flyleaves, at the beginning and the end of the manuscript, have woodcuts which originally appeared in the Schatzbehalter der wahren Reichtümer des Heils (Treasure Chest of the True Riches of Salvation) written  by the Franciscan preacher Stephan Fridolin (1430-1498) and published by Anton Korberger in Nuremberg in 1491 (Stadler 1913:2-28). After Fridolin's work was printed, Koberger, who possibly owned the woodcut blocks, used them for printing single sheets to sell individually, adding to them frames of three types, decorated with different motifs. Schedel, who had close business and private relations with Koberger, could easily have acquired some of these single prints directly from Koberger, and have inserted them into the manuscript while executing the new binding. By choosing specific images for a Hebrew manuscript, Schedel must have considered the typology of events of the Old and New Testaments (see Illuminated Documents: front cover, third flyleaf and back cover, first flyleaf).