Obj. ID: 11813 Sepia Esther Scroll, Amsterdam, ca.1675
2 image(s)
The lavishly decorated scroll executed in a pen and sepia ink, illustrated with thirty-eight illustrations that chronicle the Esther story narrative or depict episodes based on the Targum Sheni on the Book of Esther. The manuscript opens with a triumphal arch topped with a crown supported by two putti; its inner part is filled with the benedictions and liturgical poems. The text of the Book of Esther is inscribed in the square text panels that are surrounded by the narrative scenes and ornaments composed of acanthus leaves. Additionally, every first panel of each membrane is decorated with a pair of putti supporting a crown and a banderole with Hebrew inscription.
The scroll is mounted on a wooden turned roller.
The scroll is formed of 5 membranes, benedictions and liturgical poems + 13 text columns, 24 lines per column
D. Budzioch, Midrashic Tales in Seventeenth and Eighteenth-century Illustrated Esther Scrolls, „Kwartalnik Historii Żydów” 2017, no. 3 (263), 405–422.
Z. Hanegbi, Megillat Ester Me’uyyeret me-Holland min ha-Meah ha-Yod Zayin, Jerusalem 2001 (unpublished Master’s thesis).