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© The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw (JHI), Photographer: Kwolek, Grzegorz, 09.2017, Negative/Photo. No. M002154.
Name/Title
JHI Esther Scroll with Landscapes I | Unknown
Object Detail
cols. 2-4
Date
Early 18th century
Synagogue active dates
Reconstruction dates
Artist/ Maker
Unknown (Unknown)
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community
Unknown |
Location
Unknown |
Site
Unknown
School/Style
Scrolls with landscapes|
{"214":"The family of Dutch Esther scrolls from the early 18th century designed by an anonymous engraver whose decorative scheme is characterized by four different landscapes framed in cartouches of different shapes that fill upper margins. The scrolls of this family begin with a panel composed of several figurative scenes from the Book of Esther narrative. The text columns are interspaced by the columns decorated with reliefs, elaborate acanthus leaves and garlands above which are either decorative capitals or putti holding the baskets with flowers on their heads. Lower margins are filled with the figurative scenes that chronicle the Purim story or allude to midrashim and other sources; they are interspersed by vases with plants. The same decoration repeats on all four sheets forming each manuscript. Some of their exemplars are painted by hand. "}
Period
Period Detail
Category
Material/Technique
Ink on parchment (printed border, handwritten text)
Material Stucture
Material Decoration
Material Bonding
Material Inscription
Material Additions
Material Cloth
Material Lining
Tesserae Arrangement
Density
Colors
Construction material
Measurements
The scroll: ca. 170x1675 mm.
Length of the sheets in the scroll: 1) ca. 485 mm, 2) ca. 400 mm, 3) ca. 390 mm, 4) ca. 420 mm (the sheets are wavy, therefore it is difficult to measure them carefully).
Dimensions of the selected details in the scroll:
- decorations in the upper margins: ca. 32 mm;
- decorations in the lower margins: ca. 38 mm;
- text panel: 64 mm (width);
- spaces between the text panels: ca. 27 mm;
- frames with illustration(s): 38x73 mm;
- an average square letter: 2 mm (height);
- an average semicursive letter: 2 mm (height);
- the letters in the opening word of the Megillah, in the word ברוך, and in col. 14: 4 mm (height).
Height
Length
Width
Depth
Circumference
Thickness
Diameter
Weight
Axis
Panel Measurements
Condition

The scroll is very well preserved.

There is a small loss in the lower edge of the first sheet that is caused by its original shape.

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
Description

Sheet no. 1

Column 2: In the upper margin, landscape no. 2 is printed and in the lower margin, Queen Vashti is portrayed while she is strangled by two women standing on either side of her. During the execution, she stands with her arms spread, and her crown lies on the floor. The Book of Esther does not mention the fate of Vashti after her refusal of the king's order and the source for this representation remains unknown.

Column 3: In the upper margin, landscape no. 3 is printed and the frame in the lower margin contains the depiction of the walled city. In the central part of the wall, there is a gate at which a man (Mordecai) is seated (Es. 2:19, 2:21).

Column 4: In the upper margin, landscape no. 4 is printed and in the frame in the lower margin, a wedding ceremony of Ahasuerus and Esther is represented. The scene is witnessed by a group of men standing on the right and a group of women standing on the left. The Book of Esther does not mention this episode and the source for this representation remains unknown. It can be influenced by European paintings in which the scene of the marriage of the Virgin Mary and Josef was similarly composed. This can also explain the dress of a man standing in the center that refers to the high priest's robes.

Custom
Contents

The Book of Esther in Hebrew preceded with the benedictions recited before the Megillah reading

Codicology

The scroll is formed of 4 sheets containing a total of 16 columns of text with 24 or 27 lines, except for col. 14 with 11 lines divided into two half-columns. Additionally, initial benedictions are written within the opening decoration.

Every sheet contains 4 columns of text.

The text is inscribed in the Hebrew square script, in brown ink on the flesh side of parchment membranes.

The membranes vary: the first is very thick, the second is very thin, whereas the third is of medium thickness. The sheets are rather grey but the flesh side is brighter and smoother than the hair side that is darker and rather suede.

The letter ח (Es. 1:6) is marked by its form - it is decorated with scrolling feet. The letter ת (Es. 9:29) is enlarged. Other enlarged and diminished letters are included in col. 14.

The ruling is slightly visible.

The pricking is visible at the very beginning and the end of the scroll.

The membranes in the scroll are stitched together.

The benedictions are inscribed in the semicursive script except for their initial words in benedictions no. 1 and 3 or the first three words in benediction no. 2; they are written in the square, larger, and bolded letters.

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
Signature
Colophon

None

Scribal Notes
Watermark
Trade Mark
Binding
Decoration Program
Summary and Remarks

There are two variants of the scrolls decorated with this pattern that in the Index are marked "I" and "II". In some exemplars, just below the decorative columns, the pedestals with angel's heads and bases were added, therefore, the text panels in these scrolls are higher; this type is marked with "II". Whereas, the rest of the manuscripts containing no pedestals with angel's heads and bases are marked with "I". The latter are more numerous.

The earliest scroll sharing a similar engraved pattern is dated to 1701; this is the megillah BCM 25 from the Braginsky Collection in Zurich (see http://braginskycollection.com/esther-scrolls/; accessed on 22.04.2020).

At least 25 manuscripts featuring a similar pattern are still extant.

Similar narrative scenes are included in the scrolls with "portrait medallions" (see in the Index); some of them are their mirror image.

The final part of the scroll - ca. 25 mm wide - is blank; only the pricking is visible on it.

A contrast between the border printed in black ink and the text inscribed in light brown ink can be seen. The letters in col. 14 are darker than the text in all other columns.

History/Provenance

The former numbers of the manuscript are visible on the blank side of the opening section; they are 2241 (on a sticker) and C-254/4.

Main Surveys & Excavations
Bibliography

The scroll is described in:

Online collection of the ritual objects from the E. Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute is available on https://cbj.jhi.pl/documents/633638/0/ (accessed on 02.07.2021).

Dagmara Budzioch, The Decorated Esther Scrolls from the Museum of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw and the Tradition of Megillot Esther Decoration in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries – An Outline [Polish: Dekorowane zwoje Estery z Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego w Warszawie na tle tradycji dekorowania megilot Ester w XVII i XVIII wieku. Zarys problematyki], Warsaw 2019, 1:163-176, 2:41-49.

Other scrolls sharing the same or similar pattern are discussed for example in:

Jiřina Šedinová, From the Mss. Collections of the State Jewish Museum in Prague. The Scrolls of Esther, „Judaica Bohemiae” 1979, nr 15/2, 79-80.

Olga Sixtova, O svitku / Form of the Scroll [katalog k výstavě konané v Galerii Roberta Guttmanna Židovského muzea v Praze od 22. června do 26. července 2006], Prague 2006, 37.

A Journey through Jewish Worlds: Highlights from the Braginsky Collection of Hebrew Manuscripts and Printed Books, eds. Evelyn M. Cohen, Emile Schrijver, Sharon Liberman Mintz, Amsterdam 2009, 234-237.

Schöne Seiten. Jüdische Schriftkultur aus der Braginsky Collection, eds. Emile Schrijver, Falk Wiesemann, Evelyn M. Cohen, Sharon Liberman Mintz, Menahem Schmeltzer, Zurich 2011, 282-283.

Victor Klagsbald, Catalogue raisonné de la collection juive du Musée de Cluny, Paris 1981, 63-64, object 72.

Short Name
Full Name
Volume
Page
Type
Documenter
Dagmara Budzioch | 2020
Researcher
Dagmara Budzioch | 2020
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