Scroll of the Book of Esther

Artist Unknown

ca. 1630

Scroll manuscript page with Hebrew text in four columns, with illustrations on top of figures seated talking to each other, working by a tree, and walking; the middle sections feature ladders and people working on trees; the bottom features elephants and rhinoceroses.
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This scroll of Esther from Germany, created for use on the holiday of Purim, is extensively decorated, with illustrations of biblical scenes from the Esther story, as well as various flora and fauna. This section of the scroll depicts Mordechai speaking to the king at the top, the hanging of Haman and his sons, and, at the bottom, exotic animals: elephants and a rhinoceros. On the margin farthest to the left, a band of musicians is depicted and named (Ber, Shimon, Chaim, Hirsch, Wolf, Nachum).

Credits

The British Library, London, England Or. 1047. From the collection of The British Library, The Polonsky Foundation Catalogue of Digitised Hebrew Manuscripts.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

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Faience-tile mosaic of floral designs throughout, two lines of Hebrew text at the top, and three niches at bottom.
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Related Guide

Early Modern Visual and Material Culture

1500–1750

Early modern Jewish visual culture flourished, with illuminated manuscripts, ornate synagogues, and portraiture alongside increasing non-Jewish interest in Jewish customs and greater Jewish self-representation.

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