Img. ID: 233060

The 15th-century leather binding is decorated in the so-called cuir ciselé technique and signed on the front cover by Meir Yaffe the artist. The front and back covers are fitted with central brass bosses in a flower shape with a raised knob in the centre (c.30 x 30 mm) and four protective metal corner pieces decorated with a knob and fleur-de-lis in open-work technique (c.37 x 37 mm).

Two modern (1951) light brown leather strips are nailed to the original metal pieces of the back cover, closing the book in front with the original metal clasps (26-29 x 16-19 mm). The modern (1951) light brown spine is divided into five sections by four raised cords with head and tail bands.

The front cover decoration consists of an inscribed frame enclosing a central panel (176 x110 mm).

The inscription reads (from top, clockwise):

החומש ל/ העיצה מנירנב/ ערקא שי'/ חי'/ מאיר יפ'/ (בתוך מגנית קטנה ובה רשום באותיות קטנות יותר): המצ/ ייר:

"The Pentateuch of the Nuremberg Council; May he live (a long life) Meir Yaffe the painter (the last word within a small shield, in smaller script)".

The upper part of the panel is decorated with the coat-of-arms of the city of Nuremberg (67 x55 mm) divided vertically down the centre, depicting on the left half a spread eagle with open beak and protruding tongue, and on the right three diagonal stripes. Below the arms is a deer raising its right foreleg. The arms and the deer are surrounded by scrolls of acanthus leaves. The back cover is decorated with large scrolls of acanthus leaves in the same technique. Some leaves have the image of a bearded human face in profile.