For the measurements of the details in the scroll, see ID 37869.
The manuscript is preserved in fair condition; this is partly caused by a lower printing quality (some parts of the pattern are printed very poorly, e.g. on the 3rd sheet).
The first membrane is not sewn with the rest of the scroll.
The print is of fair quality; mostly, the lines are thick and the drawing is very dark, but in some other places, the print is very light.
On the blank side of the 2nd sheet parchment "patches" are glued on; one of them is large.
On the 2nd sheet, a "patch" with a corrected word is placed.
Text columns nos. 2 and 3 (sheet no. 1) are surrounded by the printed border. The upper and lower margins are decorated with a composition of dense acanthus leaves in which nude busts, landscapes framed in decorative cartouches, and birds (possibly phoenixes) are interwoven. The text is flanked by twisted columns; above them, King Ahasuerus labeled אחשורוש, seven maidservants of Esther (captioned שבע הנערות, Es. 2:9) and Queen Esther labeled אסתר המלכה are depicted.
The Book of Esther in Hebrew
The scroll is formed of 4 sheets containing 16 columns of text with 24 lines, except for col. 14 which has 17 lines (11 of them - containing the names of Haman's sons - are divided into two parts).
Every membrane contains 4 columns of text.
The text is written in Hebrew square Ashkenazi script, in dark brown ink, on the flesh side of each parchment membrane. Not all of them are made of the same parchment, e.g. the 4th sheet is thicker than the 3rd. The sheets are rather suede.
There are some erasures and corrections in the text.
The letters ח (Es. 1:6) and ת (Es. 9:29) are slightly larger than an average letter in the scroll. Other enlarged and diminished letters are included in col. 14.
The letter ח is represented in two different forms.
The letters of the Tetragrammaton are marked by a small tendril bent to the right.
The ruling is made with a stylus along with the sheets.
The membranes in the scroll are stitched together but only nos. 2-4; the first membrane is separated from the rest of the scroll.
Around 15 megillot featuring the same border are housed in private and institutional collections. Yet another exemplar used to be a part of the Gross Family Collection (no. 081.012.044) but in 2003, it was stolen from the Beit Hatfutsot Museum in Tel Aviv (Hilfe erbeten: Judaica Diebstahl: http://www.judentum.net; accessed on 14.12.2018). There are also two scrolls embellished with the same border but with texts other than the Book of Esther.
The print is of fair quality; mostly, the lines are thick and the drawing is very dark, but in some other places, the print is very light.
On the blank side of the 2nd sheet parchment "patches" are glued on; one of them is large.
On the 2nd sheet, a "patch" with a corrected word is placed.
In the upper part of the opening decoration, there is a cartouche supported by a pair of angels that in this scroll is filled with an inscription in Hebrew: זה שייך להיק נערה בבה ריב בן כמר ישראל
The scrolls featuring the same border are described in:
Dagmara Budzioch, Verzierte Ester-Rollen – illustriert von dem Prager Kupferstecher Philipp Jakob Franck [in:] Zwischen Offenbarung und Kontemplation: Die Wolfenbütteler hebräischen Schriftrollen, mit Beiträgen von Dagmara Budzioch und Ad Stijnman (Wolfenbütteler Forschungen), Wiesbaden 2021, pp. 106-117.
A Journey through Jewish Worlds: Highlights from the Braginsky Collection of Hebrew Manuscripts and Printed Books, eds. Evelyn M. Cohen, Emile Schrijver, Sharon Mintz, Amsterdam 2009, 266–267.
http://braginskycollection.com/scrolls/prague/ (accessed on 21.09.2020).
A Magnificent Illustrated Esther Scroll [Prague ca. 1700], lot 169: http://www.sothebys.com; accessed on 14.12.2018.
A Magnificent Illustrated Esther Scroll [Prague: ca. 1700], lot 24: http://www.sothebys.com; accessed on 14.12.2018.