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Obj. ID: 38674  Museo Ebraico Sabbioneta Klagsbald Type Esther Scroll, Venice (?), second half of the 17th century

© Museo Ebraico in Sabbioneta, Photographer: Sarzi Madidini, Alberto, 2021.

31 image(s)

Name/Title
Museo Ebraico Sabbioneta Klagsbald Type Esther Scroll | Unknown
Object Detail
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
Collection
Category
Material/Technique
Ink and paints 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: 170 x ca. 1590 mm.

The roller: 275 mm (height).
Height
Length
Width
Depth
Circumference
Thickness
Diameter
Weight
Axis
Panel Measurements
Hallmark
Condition

The manuscript is preserved in satisfactory condition but the state of preservation of the membranes varies. The membranes are crumpled. The fourth membrane is in the best condition, with its decorations and text preserved.

In many places, green paint has flaked off and the text is damaged.

The pattern in this exemplar is poorly printed.

Some sewings are torn.

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 scroll represents the Klagsbald type (for the explanation of the name see "Summary and Remarks"), lavishly decorated megillot in which a decorative border is printed as a copper engraving and colored by hand, while the Hebrew text of the Book of Esther is penned by a scribe. The opening section is exhaustively filled with a symmetrical composition of large flowers and foliate ornaments which, uniquely in this manuscript, is the same as the final decoration, unlike the other Klagsbald scrolls' opening sections. The upper and lower margins are adorned with repeating endless knot motifs, alternating with 20 rectangular frames enclosing one to three scenes that narrate the Book of Esther. In the scroll from the Sabbioneta collection, the background behind them is painted in carmine and some traces of gold paint are still visible. The ten text panels, each containing a single column of text (though usually in the Klagsbald scrolls, the text is written in nineteen text columns), are interspersed by stylized floral decoration. The same scheme repeats on all four membranes forming each megillah from this group.

The scroll is mounted on a wooden roller.

Custom
Contents

The Book of Esther in Hebrew

Codicology

The scroll is formed of 4 sheets containing 10 wide columns of the text with 23-25 lines each, except for col. 8 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 with tagin, in black ink on the flesh side of parchment membranes.

The letters ח (Es. 1:6) and ת (Es. 9:29) are enlarged and bolded. Other enlarged and diminished letters are included in col. 8.

There are some corrections and erasures in the text.

The ruling is made with a hardpoint but it is barely visible.

The pricking is 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
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.

The opening decoration of this scroll differs from all other megillot sharing this pattern.

Some details - such as endless knot patterns - in the scroll are painted with gold paint.

The manuscript is displayed on the permanent exhibition in the Museo Ebraico.

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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