Home
   Under Reconstruction!
Object Alone

Obj. ID: 34757
Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts
  MAHJ Adam and Eve Esther Scroll, The Netherlands (scroll), 17th-18th century (scroll), 19th century (decorations)

© Dagmara Budzioch, Photographer: Budzioch, Dagmara, 3.2015

The scroll is decorated at its beginning and in the spaces between the text columns (the spaces on the last two sheets are left blank). It opens with the composition based on a biblical subject but not related to the Esther story. It depicts the scene from the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:6) when Eve who is standing before Adam, offers him an apple. Both figures are nude and shown in the leafy branches of the tree. Below them, four birds are depicted. All other decorations filling the spaces between the text columns are formed of various grotesques together with birds, other animals, and plants; in one of them, a figure of a naked adolescent is also painted. The style of the drawings alludes to the art of Medieval manuscripts but undoubtedly, they are the work of the 19th-century hand and they are a later addition to the manuscript. 

The scroll is mounted on the wooden turned rod that is 315 mm high.

Summary and Remarks

The spaces, where two sheets are stitched, are not decorated.

The text is not copied in the ha-melech layout but some text columns start with this word. 

It is very likely that the upper and lower margins were trimmed. Possibly they were fitted to a rod on which the scroll is rolled. The edges of the sheets are not straight.

It can be noticed that in some places the painted details are put on the letters; this confirms that the decoration is a later addition to the scroll.

Only very few megillot Esther are decorated with the biblical scenes that are not related to the Book of Esther; see ID...

The scroll is displayed on the permanent exhibition of the Museum.

The former number of the manuscript (12263) is inscribed in ink on the last sheet, after the last text column.

Remarks

14 image(s)

sub-set tree:

Name/Title
MAHJ Adam and Eve Esther Scroll | Unknown
Object Detail
Monument Setting
Unknown
Date
17th-18th century (scroll), 19th century (decorations)
Synagogue active dates
Reconstruction dates
Artist/ Maker
Unknown
Origin
The Netherlands
| scroll; decorations made in an unknown place
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community type
Unknown |
Congregation
Unknown
Location
Site
Unknown
School/Style
Unknown|
Period
Unknown
Period Detail
Collection
France | Paris | Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme Paris (MAHJ)
| inv. D.98.04.078.CL (former number Cl 12263)
Documentation / Research project
Unknown
Textual Content
Unknown |
Languages of inscription
Unknown
Shape / Form
Unknown
Material / Technique
Ink and paints on parchment + wood
Material Stucture
Material Decoration
Material Bonding
Material Inscription
Material Additions
Material Cloth
Material Lining
Tesserae Arrangement
Density
Colors
Construction material
Measurements
The length of the membranes in the scroll: 1) 535 mm, 2) 615 mm, 3) 615 mm, 4) 460 mm, 5) 445 mm, 6) 455 mm, 7) 455 mm, 8) at least 33 mm.
The spaces between the text columns are not of equal width; they are ca. 25, 30 mm wide.
An average letter is ca. 4 mm high, whereas the letters in col. 21 are 8 mm high.
Dimensions of the opening decoration - 155x60 mm.
Height
ca. 165 mm
Length
Width
Depth
Circumference
Thickness
Diameter
Weight
Axis
Panel Measurements
Condition
The parchment sheets are not trimmed evenly but still, they are preserved in good condition, except for the right edge of the first sheet. The text is worse preserved than decorations; the ink is seriously faded, therefore only remains of the letters are noticeable.
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
The Book of Esther in Hebrew
Codicology

The scroll is formed of 8 sheets containing 25 text column with 17 or 18 lines, except for col. 21 with 11 lines divided into two parts.

The text is copied in Sephardi script with tagim, in black ink.

The enlarged and diminished letters are present in col. 21. Whereas the letters ח (Es. 1:6) and ת (Es. 9:29) are not highlighted.

The parchment of the sheets is of medium thickness and stiffness. Both sides of the sheets are similar to each other and it is difficult to distinguish between their flesh and hair sides. The recto side is more smooth.

The ruling is visible but the first lines in the columns and vertical lines are particularly well visible. On the sheets' edges, the pricking can be seen. 

The membranes in the scroll are stitched.

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
Watermark
Hallmark
Group
Group
Group
Group
Group
Trade Mark
Binding
Decoration Program
Suggested Reconsdivuction
History/Provenance
Formerly in the Strauss collection (no. 149). Donated by Rothschild. The scroll was exhibited on the "Synagoga" exhibition that took place in 1960/1961 in Recklinghausen and in 1961 in Frankfurt am Main (respectively objects B 52 and 177 in the catalogues - see "Bibliography").
Main Surveys & Excavations
Sources

Synagoga. Kultgeräte und Kunstwerke von der Zeit der Patriarchen bis zur Gegenwart, Städtische Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, 3. November 1960 – 15. Januar 1961, ed. Anneliese Schröder, Recklinghausen 1961, object B 52.

Synagoga. Jüdische Altertümer Handschriften und Kultgeräte. Historisches Museum Frankfurt am Main, 17. Mai – 16. Juli 1961, Frankfurt am Main 1961, object 117.

Victor Klagsbald, Catalogue raisonné de la collection juive du Musée de Cluny, Paris 1981, 70-71, object 78.

Mendel Metzger, The John Rylands Megillah and Some Other Illustrated Megilloth of the 15th to 17th Centuries, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 1962, 45, 171-173.

A short description in French and an image of the manuscript are available on https://www.mahj.org/en/decouvrir-collections-betsalel/rouleau-d-esther-50074 (accessed on 22.04.2020).

Type
Documenter
Dagmara Budzioch | 2020
Author of description
Dagmara Budzioch | 2020
Architectural Drawings
|
Computer Reconstruction
|
Section Head
|
Language Editor
|
Donor
|
Negative/Photo. No.
The following information on this monument will be completed:
Unknown |