Auction 69 - Part I -Rare and Important Items
Velvet; goldwork on cardboard cutouts; metallic bobbin lace; rhinestones.
Torah scroll with miniscule script, in the "Vavei HaAmudim" format, based on the contemporary Tikkun Soferim. The scroll is wound on rollers, and cloaked in a greet velvet mantle, bearing the gilt-embroidered letters Vav and Yud, a Star of David and foliate designs, as well as rhinestones. Edged with metallic bobbin lace. Openings for the rollers were cut into the top of the mantle, unskillfully edged and causing damage to lace. Drawstring at the bottom of the mantle; the mantle appears to have been made as a tefillin pouch, which was later converted to serve as Torah mantle.
Height of parchment: 13 cm. Height of rollers: approx. 30 cm. Mantle: 19X15.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Unskilled hand stitches and late machine stitches to velvet mantle. Rubbed areas to velvet. Damage and some loss to embroidery. Break (repaired with glue) at base of one roller.
Illuminated Esther scroll. [Italy, 18th century].
Ink on parchment; printed decorations and illustrations, colored by hand.
Ten columns, set within decorative frames; the intercolumnar spaces are decorated with framed panels filled with stylized floral motifs. Above and below the intercolumnar spaces are panels enclosing intricate labyrinth motifs. Twenty printed illustrations appear in the upper and lower bands, colored by hand, depicting scenes from the megillah narrative, from Achashverosh's feast to the hanging of Haman's sons and the Purim festivities. The beginning and end of the scroll are decorated with fine floral motifs, likewise printed and colored by hand.
The scroll is placed in a fine leather and marbled paper case, with gilt decorations.
Height: 16.5 cm. Fair condition. Parchment darkened and stained, particularly in first membrane. Creases. Large open tear at beginning of first membrane, repaired with paper, affecting decorations, not affecting text (decorations replaced by hand). Small open tears to first membrane, repaired with paper. Damage and minor tears. Losses and damage to paint and decorations. Membrane 3 from different parchment.
A similar Esther scroll (presumably mostly printed from the same plates, apart from a variant opening decoration) exists in the National Czartoryski Museum in Krakow, Poland, and is recorded in the Bezalel Narkiss Index of Jewish Art – Center of Jewish Art, catalog no. 2442.
"HaMelech" scroll (most the columns begin with the word "HaMelech"), on a wooden roller. 42 lines per column; the names of the ten sons of Haman are written in a separate column. Crown decorations to upper lines. The letters He, Vav and Yud which form G-d's name, are emphasized in several places.
Later illuminations, probably added in Eretz Israel decades after the scroll was scribed. Separating the text columns are Solomonic columns standing on stepped bases, with additional elaborate bases and urn capitals. Stylized foliate arches top the text columns, underneath which appear engraving-like Esther scroll scenes and landscapes, in a style typical of European Esther scrolls of previous centuries.
Height of parchment: 35.5 cm. Overall height (including roller): 64 cm. Good condition. Stains, creases and defects to parchment. Losses and damage to paint. Damage and occasional losses to ink. Catalog number (unidentified) on back of scroll.
See a similar scroll in the Sotheby's catalog, November 1983, item 153.
Ink on parchment; crimson paint and gold leaf. Signed and dated by the artist in several place, in the plate: "Hanin 97" / "Hanin 98".
Large format "HaMelech" scroll (most columns begin with the word "HaMelech"). Ashkenazic script. Decorated with printed illustrations, highlighted with crimson paint and gold leaf – a scene from the Megillah unfolds at the foot of each column, while a pair of animals from traditional Jewish iconography top each column (pairs of lions, eagles and deer). The columns are separated with European and Oriental landscapes, set in fine frames, with birds, crowns and winding, foliate motifs. On the opening tab of the scroll, depictions of a palace courtyard and Mordechai riding a horse.
Height (including roller): 67 cm. Very good condition.