Esther Scroll on Parchment – Decorated with Hand-Painted Engravings – Italy, 17th Century

Esther Scroll on Parchment – Decorated with Hand-Painted Engravings – Italy, 17th Century

Esther scroll decorated with hand-painted engravings (Type "Gaster I"). [Probably Venice, Italy, second half of 17th century, ca. 1675].

Copper engraving, ink and paint on parchment.

"HaMelech" Esther scroll (i.e. most columns headed with the word "HaMelech" – "the king"), inscribed on three parchment membranes sewn together, 19 columns of text, 22-23 lines per column. Text enclosed within a series of rectangular frame engravings with decorated margins, each with two columns of text, with the exception of the last, smaller frame, which contains only a single column. All the decorative elements are hand-painted (painting from period of printing), in shades matching those used in other copies of this particular scroll.

The frames enclosing text are bordered with symmetrical vegetal panels to the right and left, and geometric guilloches and some 20 broad cartouches above and below. The cartouches contain miniature illustrations depicting scenes from the Book of Esther; some of the cartouches portray more than one scene. A large decoration at the beginning of the first membrane features winding tendrils intertwined over images of a leopard, eagle, deer and lion (two additional rampant lions are shown flanking and grasping the central cartouche of this artwork, on either side); these images are meant to represent the Mishnaic passage (Avot 5:20): "Be bold as a leopard and swift as an eagle, fleet as a deer and mighty as a lion, to do the will of your Father in Heaven". A similar artwork appears toward the end of the third membrane, consisting only of vegetal patterns, and no animals.

Esther scrolls of this type have been classified as "Gaster I", as opposed to similar, contemporary scrolls from Venice termed by Mendel Metzger as "Gaster II" or "Klagsbald" in his 1966 article entitled "The Earliest Engraved Italian Megilloth". Based on two other copies of this particular scroll, dated respectively 1673 and 1680 (see Catalogue of the René Braginsky Collection, S60), Prof. Shalom Sabar proposes dating the present scroll to ca. 1675.

Height of parchment: approx. 17.5 cm. Length of scroll: approx. 158.5 cm. Fair-good condition. Wear to beginning of first membrane, with minor damage to artwork, paint and text. Old dampstains. Ink faded in many places; paint faded in some places. Several small tears to parchment, professionally repaired with parchment. Wear and a tear to end of last membrane, professionally repaired. Fold marks. Old notations in cartouche at beginning of first membrane and in cartouche at end of third membrane, all erased, probably at an early stage. Handwritten ownership inscription on verso of first membrane: "ex libris --- Riley -- 1890".

Reference and comparison: Mendel Metzger, The Earliest Engraved Italian Megilloth, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Vol. 48, no. 2, 1966, pp. 381-432; René Braginsky Collection, Scroll 60 (Nummer 81 / English cat. no. 84).