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© Biblioteca centrale della Regione siciliana "Alberto Bombace", Photographer: N/A, -, Negative/Photo. No. M003094.
Name/Title
BCRS Klagsbald Type Esther Scroll | Unknown
Object Detail
sheet 4 (text panel 10 and final decoration)
Date
Second half of the 17th century
Synagogue active dates
Reconstruction dates
Artist/ Maker
Unknown (Unknown)
Origin
Italy | Veneto | Venice
| (?)
Historical Origin
Unknown
Community
Unknown |
Location
Unknown |
Site
Unknown
School/Style
Klagsbald scrolls|
{"211":"The family of Italian Esther scrolls from the second half of the 17th century named by Mendel Metzger after Judaica collector, Victor Klagsbald, of whose collections an exemplar of this manuscript formed a part (see M. Metzger, \u201cThe Earliest Engraved Italian Megilloth\u201d, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 48:2 (1966), 381\u2012432, esp. 390). It includes Esther scrolls produced in mixed technique in which decorative border is printed and colored by hand while the Hebrew text of the Book of Esther is penned by a scribe. The opening and final section of the scrolls are filled with a rich decoration formed from tendrils, flowers, and animals (the latter contains no animal figures). The upper and lower margins are adorned with repeating endless knot motifs framed in rectangles alternating with rectangular frames enclosing more than thirty scenes chronicling the Book of Esther. The text panels including two text columns (the last panel includes a single text column) are interspersed by floral decoration. The same scheme repeats on all four sheets forming each exemplar. Is shows many common details with Gaster I scrolls."}
Period
Period Detail
Category
Material/Technique
Ink and paints on parchment (handwritten text, printed and hand-colored border)
Material Stucture
Material Decoration
Material Bonding
Material Inscription
Material Additions
Material Cloth
Material Lining
Tesserae Arrangement
Density
Colors
Construction material
Measurements
Unknown
Height
Length
Width
Depth
Circumference
Thickness
Diameter
Weight
Axis
Panel Measurements
Condition

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.

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

The fourth sheet contains one panel (no. 10) with a single column of the text (no. 19) and

Frame 19 (text panel 10 - upper margin): On the right, the crowned Esther sits in an armchair at a table and writes the Purim letter. This is witnessed by two men wearing turbans who stand next to the table (Es. 9:29). On the left, two mounted messengers ride towards a city (Es. 9:30).

Frame 20 (text panel 10 - lower margin): Five men wearing masks and tall pointed hats are dancing in a circle and playing musical instruments. The scene most likely depicts a Purim celebration contemporary to the manuscript's creator.

Final decoration: A symmetrical composition of flowers, tendrils, and acanthus leaves.

Custom
Contents

The Book of Esther in Hebrew, accompanied by a separate benedictions sheet with initial and final benedictions and portions of the piyut Shoshanat Yaakov.

Codicology

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.

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
The Klagsbald scrolls are a family of Italian Esther scrolls from the second half of the 17th century, named by Mendel Metzger after Judaica collector, Victor Klagsbald, of whose collections an exemplar of this manuscript formed a part (see M. Metzger, "The Earliest Engraved Italian Megilloth", Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 48:2 (1966), 381‒432, esp. 390). The scheme features numerous common details with the scrolls representing Gaster I type; however, one of the distinctive features is the motif of endless knot that in Klagsbald scrolls are not joined together.
 
Some parts of the border are uncolored (e.g. on the second membrane).

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. 

History/Provenance
Main Surveys & Excavations
Bibliography

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.

Short Name
Full Name
Volume
Page
Type
Documenter
Dagmara Budzioch | 2021
Researcher
Dagmara Budzioch | 2021
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