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Obj. ID: 37866  JML Griselini-Related Esther Scroll, Venice (?), mid-18th century

© Jewish Museum in London (JML), Photographer: N/A, -.

3 image(s)

Name/Title
JML Griselini-Related Esther Scroll | Unknown
Object Detail
Date
Mid-18th 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
Unknown|
Period
Period Detail
Category
Material/Technique
Ink on parchment (printed border, handwritten text) + wood
Material Stucture
Material Decoration
Material Bonding
Material Inscription
Material Additions
Material Cloth
Material Lining
Tesserae Arrangement
Density
Colors
Construction material
Measurements
The scroll:300 x ca. 2435 mm.
Length of the sheets in the scroll: 1) 540 mm, 2) 465 mm, 3) 465 mm, 4) 465 mm, 5) ca. 500 mm + a narrow strip of parchment joining the scroll with a roller.
Dimensions of the selected details in the scroll:
- the print is 460 mm (width);
- frame with the narrative scene(s): 28x75 mm;
- an average letter: 3 mm (height).

The roller: ca. 470 mm.
Height
Length
Width
Depth
Circumference
Thickness
Diameter
Weight
Axis
Panel Measurements
Hallmark
Condition

The manuscript is well preserved. Only the first sheet is slightly damaged and some damages are visible in the text too.

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 manuscript represents the Griselini-Related scrolls whose decoration imitates the scheme designed by Francesco Griselini (see "Griselini scrolls" in the Index). All Griselini-Related scrolls are formed of five sheets with four text panels per membrane and are produced in the mixed technique of the decorative border that is printed and the hand-written text. Its general composition is the same as in the Griselini scrolls and only minor details such as dogs present in the narrative scenes and the checkered floor, differ them.

The opening section of the scroll is trimmed into a decorative shape. The scheme is based on the row of arcades under which individual columns of the Hebrew text of the Book of Esther are inscribed. The text panels are separated by columns whose shafts are decorated with varying patterns and whose bases contain floral designs. The upper margins feature cartouches flanked by flowers, pairs of turkeys, roosters, parrots, or hoopoes with their heads turned away from each other on top of a balustrade; all four pairs of birds are printed in the same sequence continuously. On top of the cartouches between turkeys and parrots, there are crowned double-headed eagles, whereas turkeys or peacocks are placed above cartouches between roosters and hoopoes. Vases, flowers, and small citrus trees are interspersed regularly throughout the birds.

The lower margins are decorated with figurative scenes illustrating the narrative of the Book of Esther. They feature Italian architecture and are enclosed in rectangular frames separated by the columns' floral bases.

The same pattern repeats along with the scroll and only the narrative scenes on the subsequent sheets are different.

The manuscript is mounted on a wooden carved roller.

Custom
Contents

The Book of Esther in Hebrew

Codicology

The scroll is formed of 5 sheets containing a total of 20 columns of text with 23 lines each, except for col. 17 with 11 lines divided into two half-columns. In the first line of the column, only one or two words are written. 

The last several lines in col. 16 are penned in very narrow letters. In col. 17, above the names of Haman's sons, several lines of the text are inscribed. It seems this section was erased and copied again in col. 16, therefore the letters must be very narrow to fit the column.

Every sheet contains 4 columns of text.

The text is inscribed in the Hebrew square Italian script with tagin, in black ink on the flesh side of the parchment membranes that is bright and matt. The blank side of the sheets is very different - it is yellow, very smooth, and traces of hair are well visible. 

The letter ח (Es. 1:6) is highlighted by its form - it contains two elements joined with a roof and it is larger than an average letter in the scroll. The letter ת (Es. 9:29) is enlarged and bolded. Other enlarged and diminished letters are included in col. 17.

The ruling and pricking are invisible.

The membranes in the scroll are stitched together.

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
Binding
Decoration Program
Summary and Remarks

Blots of ink are visible on some frames surrounding the illustrations.

History/Provenance
Main Surveys & Excavations
Bibliography
No bibliography on the scroll is available but scrolls sharing the same pattern are discussed for example in:

Victor Klagsbald, Catalogue raisonné de la collection juive du Musée de Cluny, Paris 1981, p. 66-67, object 74.

Mendel Metzger, The Earliest Engraved Italian Megilloth, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 1966, 48/2, 381–432, esp. 416-432 (here the scrolls are called "post-Griselini").

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, 1:135-138.

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