Rare, Early Esther Scroll – Decorated with Hand-Painted Engravings – The Netherlands, 17th Century

Rare, Early Esther Scroll – Decorated with Hand-Painted Engravings – The Netherlands, 17th Century

Esther scroll decorated with hand-painted engravings. [The Netherlands, late 17th century].

Copper engraving, ink and paint on parchment.

Magnificent Esther scroll, exemplary of scrolls in the decorative tradition prevalent among Dutch Jewish communities of Spanish-Portuguese origin from the 17th century onward. An utterly unique item in terms of both quality and rarity, unparalleled to the best of our knowledge.

"HaMelech" Esther scroll (i.e. most columns headed with the word "HaMelech" – "the king"), inscribed on a dozen parchment membranes sewn together, 23 columns of text, 20 lines per column, in square script typical of scribes of Spanish descent active in Amsterdam in those years. Adorned with 24 engravings, serving as decorative frames for the columns of text, in two alternating patterns, fashioned and painted by hand in a host of different colors. The first of these engravings, at the beginning of the scroll, provides a decorative frame for a large heraldic device, also hand-painted.

Decorations and Illustrations

Each parchment membrane is printed with two frame engravings, one oval-shaped and the other rectangular-shaped. The oval-shaped frames are designed as rich and densely filled floral wreaths; each wreath is arranged in a symmetrical composition and hand-painted, with the colors varying, giving the flowers a different appearance each time. The wreaths also include large tulips, which are particularly characteristic of the Netherlands. The oval frames are in turn surrounded by rectangular frames filled with vegetal patterns, hand-painted in red. The rectangular-shaped frames are also symmetrically composed and feature decorations of flowers, leaves and twisted branches, with four pairs of birds – songbirds, parrots and roosters – interspersed among them. These are all hand-painted, and bordered with a red outline.

The flowers, plants and birds appearing in this scroll are highly reminiscent of decorative elements created and signed by the artist-engraver Salom Italia for two Dutch ketubahs (Jewish marriage contracts) dating respectively from 1648 and 1654, as well as of decorative elements appearing on ketubahs in use among Dutch Jewish communities of Spanish-Portuguese extraction from the 1660s onward, inspired by the aforementioned ketubahs. The artistic style of Salom ben Mordechai Italia – who moved from Mantua, Italy to Amsterdam ca. 1640 – gained popularity in his day, and was subsequently imitated, inspiring and influencing engravings and other works in the second half of the 17th century, and through the 18th and 19th centuries. Apparently, the decorations adorning the present Esther scroll were similarly influenced by the work of Salom Italia, just a few decades after he was active, in late 17th century.

The first frame-engraving encloses a large emblem in the form of a Star of David, hand-painted in yellowish gold over a blue background. As a result of the wear typical to the beginning of the first membrane of Esther scrolls, it is difficult to determine with certainty the nature of this emblem, but it appears to be a family crest representing the owner of the scroll. Although the display of a family’s coat of arms at the beginning of an Esther scroll was prevalent mostly in Italy – where heraldic devices were most notably customary – such displays could also adorn scrolls from Amsterdam, typically among distinguished Jewish families of Spanish-Portuguese descent (for instance scrolls created by Salom Italia; see below).

Parallels and Comparisons

To the best of our knowledge, the present Esther scroll is the only extant manuscript of its kind; we are unaware of the existence of any identical scrolls, nor do we know of any examples of such engraved plates being used in other printed items. Nevertheless, there are a number of Esther scrolls related to this particular scroll in terms of their decorative elements, which are worth mentioning here in order to demonstrate both the affinity of the present scroll to the work of Salom Italia and its similarity to other contemporary Dutch Esther scrolls:

• Two 17th-century Dutch Esther scrolls with engravings by Salom Italia, from the collection of the Jewish Museum, Amsterdam, one scroll with round frame-engravings (M000432); and another with octagonal frame-engravings and with decorations similar to those of the present Esther scroll (M012276).

• An Esther scroll – also from the collection of the Jewish Museum, Amsterdam – that begins with an engraving in the form of a round floral wreath (M000415).

• Two items from the collection of the Klau Library, Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, Ohio: An Esther scroll decorated entirely with oval frame-engravings in the form of floral wreaths (dated to the 18th century, Scrolls 51 [V.5]); and a sheet of blessings with an oval frame-engraving with floral patterns (dated to the second half of the 17th century, Scrolls 12 [VIII.5]).

• And finally, an Esther scroll from Amsterdam that begins with an engraving in the form of a large, oval floral wreath, dated 1686, from the collection of the New York Public Library (Spencer Coll. Hebrew MS. 2).

Height of parchment: approx. 19.7 cm. Length of scroll: 339 cm. Stains and many creases to first and second membranes. Many tears and creases to beginning of first membrane, affecting decorations and illustration. Open tear to eighth membrane, repaired with later strip of parchment and text replacement. Two small repairs with strips of parchment to eleventh membrane. Edge of last membrane sewn onto later strip of parchment, in turn sewn onto later handle (19th century?); height of handle: 42.5 cm.

Enclosed: Detailed expert opinion by Prof. Shalom Sabar, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem.