Obj. ID: 86
Illuminated Manuscripts De Castro Pentateuch, Germany, 1344
4 image(s) Items per page
sub-set tree: 
Parchment, I 420 (paginated 1-840) III leaves, (450-465) x (322-326) mm, text space 320 x 210 mm, hight of text with masorah 380 mm. The text and the Targum are written in square Ashkenazi script, Rashi's Commentary and the marginal texts in small unvocalized square script. 43 lines in three columns, in dark brown ink, vocalization and marginal texts were added by another scribe in light brown ink. Rubrics emphezise the lematta of Rashi's Commentary, the names cited in the colophon and the opening lines of chapters and haftarot. Ruling by plummet, 3 34 4 horizontal and 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 lower margins (e.g. fols. 128-135). 53 quires of 8 leaves each, except for I 8-1 (fol. 7 is a widow with a stub. No text is missing), XLVI 8 2 (fol. 361 is bound after fol. 369 which is bound after fol. 362), LIII 3 (three single leaves with stubs). Catchwords of various sizes to the quires are written vertically (except for fols. 327v, 385v) in square script identical to that of the main text. They are placed in the lower left-hand corner of the last verso of each quire.
Gold-tooled 17th century red Morocco leather on wood decorated on both covers with a frame of running geometrical and floral motifs enclosing a floral central piece and four corner pieces. The front cover is inscribed YSHAC SINEOR 5407 (=1647). The edges of the covers are sloping in the center and decorated with a gold-tooled dotted line. The spine is divided by high bends into 8 equal portions decorated with running geometrical motifs and a lozenge floral motif in the center of each. Two engraved brass clasps on each cover closing the book. Watermarks on the fly leaves consist of a crowned shield topped by an elephant.
A. One full-page text illustration to Esther Scroll (fol. 361 (721)) in green, red, blue, yellow and white. This illustration was added by another hand. B. 10 decorated initial word panels for each book of the Pentateuch and five scrolls (fols. 1v (2), 85 (169), 157 (313), 206 (411) 272 (543), 330v (660), 333 (665), 339 (678), 349 (697), 353v (706), three of which contain text illustation (fols. 1v, 333, 349). All in magenta, blue, green, ochre, brown, black and white colours, burnished silver leaf, and red, blue and black ink penwork. C. Marginal illustrations (e.g. a dog on fol. 35) D. Catchwords decorated with a bird's head (fol. 31v (62), cut during the rebinding), a dog's head (fol. 39v (78)) and a crown (fol. 327v (654)), in brown and red ink. E. Ascenders and descenders of some letters in the catchwords and along the bottom of the text are decorated by flourishes in brown ink.