Floral motif
Hatach before Mordecai (Es. 4:5-7)
Mordecai in front of the palace gate (Es. 4:2)
Esther is informed of the plot by her maiden(s) and servant(s) (Es. 4:4)
Esther sends Hatach to speak to Mordecai (Es. 4:5)
Esther touching the scepter (Es. 5:2)
Ahasuerus extending his scepter to Esther (Es. 5:2)
Esther's first banquet (Es. 5:5-8)
Gallows built for Mordecai (Es. 5:14)
Haman talks to his wife, Zeresh, and friends (Es. 5:14)
Ahasuerus listening to the Book of Records (Es. 6:1-3)
Scribe(s) writing Haman's decree (Es. 3:12)
Ahasuerus asks Haman how to honour a man he wishes to reward (Es. 6:5-10)
Haman's daughter empties a chamber pot on her father's head (Bab. Talmud, Megillah 16a)
Esther's second banquet (Es. 7:1)
Ahasuerus returns from the palace garden (Es. 7:8)
Haman begging for his life (Es. 7:8)
Harbona suggests to hang Haman (Es. 7:9)
Main text framed |
In general, the manuscript is preserved in fair condition, but the text is well preserved.
The opening decoration is seriously damaged; its parts are missing and the membrane is torn in several places.
Coloring in some parts of the decoration is faded (e.g. in the final section of the scroll).
The floral decoration of the benediction sheet is poorly preserved.
The second sheet contains three panels (nos. 4-6) with six columns of the text (nos. 7-12):
Frame 7 (text panel 4 - upper margin): On the right, a man (Haman?) dictates the decree against Jews to a scribe who sits at a table before him attended by two other men (Es. 3:12). On the left is the crowned Esther in a courtyard surrounded by a wall. A man (possibly her servant, Hatach) wearing a turban is facing her as if speaking, and two maid-servants stand behind her. In the background, in front of the palace gate, is another man - most likely Mordecai - in a turban on his head (Es. 4:4).
Frame 8 (text panel 4 - lower margin): Both episodes included in the cartouche depict Hatach delivering the messages between Esther and Mordecai. On the right, Esther sits on a throne topped by a canopy, flanked by two maid-servants, holding a scepter in her left hand. She is pointing at a man (possibly Hatach) who stands facing her and raises his hands in a gesture of speech (Es. 4:5). On the left, Mordecai stands with folded arms within the palace gate facing a man (Hatach?) who also raises his hands in a gesture of speech (Es. 4:5-7).
Frame 9 (text panel 5 - upper margin): On the right, Ahasuerus sits on the throne with a canopy and extends his scepter to the crowned Esther who kneels before him and touches the tip of it. Two men stand behind the throne and Esther is accompanied by two maid-servants who stand in the doorway (Es. 5:2-3). On the left, the first banquet given by Esther is depicted. Esther, Ahasuerus, and Haman sit at a round, laid table set in palace gardens. A man serving dishes is just approaching the table (Es. 5:5).
Frame 10 (text panel 5 - lower margin): On the right, Haman wearing a turban stands and talks to two women; most likely one of them is Zeresh, Haman's wife, suggesting that he build the gallows for Mordecai (Es. 5:14). In the central part of the frame stands the gallows prepared by Haman for Mordecai (Es. 5:14). On the left, Ahasuerus reclines on a bed and two men stand before him; one of them reads from an open book to the king (Es. 6:1).
Frame 11 (text panel 6 - upper margin): On the right, Ahasuerus stands next to his throne and points at Haman who stands before him as they talk (Es. 6:6-10). On the left, Mordecai rides a horse followed by two men and Haman walks before him while blowing a trumpet (Es. 6:11). The scene of the triumph of Mordecai is supplemented by the depiction of Haman's daughter who, from a window above, empties a chamber pot on her father's head (Megillah 16a).
Frame 12 (text panel 6 - lower margin): On the right is the second banquet given by Esther (Es. 7:1). The queen sits at a round laid table and is accompanied by Ahasuerus, who sits on the throne topped by a canopy, and by Haman, who sits between them. In the central part of the frame, Haman begs for his life and is prostrate on the floor before Esther while Ahasuerus is returning from the palace gardens (Es. 7:7-8). On the left, Ahasuerus stands in the palace garden with a scepter in his hand and is accompanied by two chamberlains; one of them may be Harbonah, who suggests hanging Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai (Es. 7:9).
The Book of Esther in Hebrew, accompanied by a separate benedictions sheet with initial and final benedictions and portions of the piyut Shoshanat Yaakov.
The scroll is formed of 4 sheets containing 19 columns of text with 24 lines each, except for col. 16 which has 11 lines divided into two half-columns.
Sheets nos. 1-3 contain 3 columns of the text, and sheet no. 4 contains a single column.
The text is written in Hebrew square Italian script in black ink on parchment membranes.
The letters ח (Es. 1:6) and ת (Es. 9:29) are enlarged. Other enlarged and diminished letters are included in col. 16.
The membranes in the scroll are stitched together.
Benedictions – every formula starts with enlarged and bolded opening word ברוך. The name of God is replaced by 2 letters י and a ligature of א and ל letters. In their text, a ligature of א and ל letters is included too.
The text is copied in a different handwriting than the scroll itself.
None
The frames on the upper margins are numbered with Arabic numerals.
On the blank side of the benediction sheet, a seal of the Library, as well as two numbers (III.D.17 and 194232), can be seen.
Bibliography concerning this manuscript is unknown but other scrolls sharing the same pattern are described e.g. in:
Mendel Metzger, Eine illustrierte Estherrolle der zweiten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts im Historischen Museum Frankfurt am Main, mit einem Anhang über Megilla-Hülsen, „Schriften des Historischen Museums Frankfurt am Main”, 13 (1972), 95–116.
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, 1:119-128.