Auction 75 - Rare and Important Items
Esther Scroll – Decorated Micrography Created by Rabbi Yehuda Leib Landau – Galicia, 1889
Opening: $1,000
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000
Unsold
Esther Scroll, a micrography inscribed and decorated by the rabbi, author and playwright Yehuda Leib (Judah Leo) Landau. [Galicia], 5649 (1889).
The entire Book of Esther is micrographically inscribed in the center of the work in the form of a wheel, 4.5 cm in diameter. Dated in a chronogram translating as "See you this wheel and observe well my excellent handiwork". The hub of the wheel bears the title "Scroll of Esther", surmounted by a crown. The wheel is framed by a gate, surmounted by an eagle. On either side of the gate are columns, decorated with vases filled with flowers.
Beneath the wheel and gate is an acrostic poem, in elegant script, alluding to the artist's name. The poem concludes with his pen name, "Hillel ben Shahar" (for text of poem, please refer to Hebrew).
Rabbi Yehuda Leib (Judah Leo) Landau (1866-1942), native of Załośce, near Tarnopol, Galicia (today Ternopil, western Ukraine). Descendant of the "Chacham Tzvi" and Yehezkel Landau, author of "Noda BiYehuda". In 1889, the year this micrographic work was created, Yehuda Leib moved to the nearby Galician city of Brody, where he completed his high school education; until then he had been schooled in Torah studies at the batei midrash run by his father and grandfather. He later attended the Rabbinical Seminary in Vienna where he was ordained, and the University of Vienna where he earned a doctorate in philosophy. In 1901, he was appointed Rabbi of the North Manchester Congregation in England, and in 1903, he became the rabbi of the Johannesburg Hebrew Congregation in South Africa. He was made Chief Rabbi of South Africa in 1912. He taught at Witwatersrand University, where he was the first person to hold the chair of Hebrew Literature. He had begun publishing his own writings in Yiddish at the age of 13, and over time, he also published in Hebrew and English. His works included articles, nonfiction books, plays, prose, and poetry. He wrote under a number of different pen names, including "Sofer Ivri" (Hebrew Scribe), "Hillel ben Shahar" (a reference to both his own name and that of his father, Moshe Issakhar), and "Dr. Morgenstern". See enclosed material.
[1] f., 15X17.5 cm. Diam. of micrography: 4.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Browned paper, with stains. Abrasions to paper, slightly affecting decorations and text. Minor worming. Minor tears to edges. Matted and framed; 25X27 cm with frame.
The entire Book of Esther is micrographically inscribed in the center of the work in the form of a wheel, 4.5 cm in diameter. Dated in a chronogram translating as "See you this wheel and observe well my excellent handiwork". The hub of the wheel bears the title "Scroll of Esther", surmounted by a crown. The wheel is framed by a gate, surmounted by an eagle. On either side of the gate are columns, decorated with vases filled with flowers.
Beneath the wheel and gate is an acrostic poem, in elegant script, alluding to the artist's name. The poem concludes with his pen name, "Hillel ben Shahar" (for text of poem, please refer to Hebrew).
Rabbi Yehuda Leib (Judah Leo) Landau (1866-1942), native of Załośce, near Tarnopol, Galicia (today Ternopil, western Ukraine). Descendant of the "Chacham Tzvi" and Yehezkel Landau, author of "Noda BiYehuda". In 1889, the year this micrographic work was created, Yehuda Leib moved to the nearby Galician city of Brody, where he completed his high school education; until then he had been schooled in Torah studies at the batei midrash run by his father and grandfather. He later attended the Rabbinical Seminary in Vienna where he was ordained, and the University of Vienna where he earned a doctorate in philosophy. In 1901, he was appointed Rabbi of the North Manchester Congregation in England, and in 1903, he became the rabbi of the Johannesburg Hebrew Congregation in South Africa. He was made Chief Rabbi of South Africa in 1912. He taught at Witwatersrand University, where he was the first person to hold the chair of Hebrew Literature. He had begun publishing his own writings in Yiddish at the age of 13, and over time, he also published in Hebrew and English. His works included articles, nonfiction books, plays, prose, and poetry. He wrote under a number of different pen names, including "Sofer Ivri" (Hebrew Scribe), "Hillel ben Shahar" (a reference to both his own name and that of his father, Moshe Issakhar), and "Dr. Morgenstern". See enclosed material.
[1] f., 15X17.5 cm. Diam. of micrography: 4.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Browned paper, with stains. Abrasions to paper, slightly affecting decorations and text. Minor worming. Minor tears to edges. Matted and framed; 25X27 cm with frame.
Ceremonial Objects and Art
Ceremonial Objects and Art