![COMTINO, Mordecai ben Eliezer (1420-c. 1485). Commentary on the Torah (known as Kelil Yofi or Ma'amar Mordekhai). MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM. [Ottoman Empire, c. 1500].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2000/NYR/2000_NYR_09364_0227_000(011321).jpg?w=1)
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COMTINO, Mordecai ben Eliezer (1420-c. 1485). Commentary on the Torah (known as Kelil Yofi or Ma'amar Mordekhai). MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM. [Ottoman Empire, c. 1500].
253 x 174 mm. 152 leaves, older Hebrew foliation. On vellum with distinguishable hair and flesh sides, arranged according to Gregory. Due to the tight binding the quire structure could not be established; there are no catchwords or signatures. Dark brown ink. Byzantine semi-cursive script. (Somewhat thumbed, especially at the beginning, some natural holes, a few pages with faded ink, not affecting readability, occasional very minor worming, hardly affecting text, some later notes, some underlining, wax seal on fol. 152v, generally in very good condition.) Modern blind and gold-tooled brown morocco, blue-speckled edges, two modern paper flyleaves at back and front.
Provenance: Judah ben Menahem Revitsi of Pumia (purchase note and signature between the opening columns of the text, f. 1v); Judah [Gur] ben Menahem Revitsi, who was probably a Karaite from Constantinople, is recorded as the owner of a dozen manuscripts, many of them in libraries in Leiden and Paris -- Christianus Andreas Sibers (inscription, f. 1r) -- Johann Andreas Panz, Professor at Jena, 1701 (inscription, f. 1r), who obtained it from Dr. D. Sibers -- "Joh. Benj. Martinii Archidiac. Ohrdruffens. et Consistor Höenl. Langenb. ibidem Adsessor" (inscription, f. 1r).
Contents: f. 1r blank, with later additions; ff. 1v-151v text; f. 151v colophon; f. 152r acrostic poem by Comtino ("ani Mordekhay ben Eli'ezer"); f. 152v poems by Comtino, arranged in the shape of a fruit-bearing tree.
According to the colophon, the composition of this commentary, entitled Keter Torah or Kelil Yofi, was finished in 1460 in Constantinople. The author was a Byzantine Rabbinic Jew steeped in Sephardic culture who had close contacts with Karaite intellectuals in Constantinople. On a full page at the end of the manuscript the scribe copied a number of poems by the author disposed in the form of a fruit-bearing tree. The commentary has never been published; see, however, J.C. Attias, Le commentaire biblique: Mordekhai Komtino (Paris 1991). At least four other manuscripts of this work are extant (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, héb. 265-266; St. Petersburg, Institute of Oriental Studies, B 49; St. Petersburg, Russian National Library, Yevr. I 51). References: A. Neubauer, Catalogue of the Hebrew Manuscripts in the Jews' College, London (Oxford 1886), no. 1, p. 1; Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts, Jerusalem, F 4670.
253 x 174 mm. 152 leaves, older Hebrew foliation. On vellum with distinguishable hair and flesh sides, arranged according to Gregory. Due to the tight binding the quire structure could not be established; there are no catchwords or signatures. Dark brown ink. Byzantine semi-cursive script. (Somewhat thumbed, especially at the beginning, some natural holes, a few pages with faded ink, not affecting readability, occasional very minor worming, hardly affecting text, some later notes, some underlining, wax seal on fol. 152v, generally in very good condition.) Modern blind and gold-tooled brown morocco, blue-speckled edges, two modern paper flyleaves at back and front.
Provenance: Judah ben Menahem Revitsi of Pumia (purchase note and signature between the opening columns of the text, f. 1v); Judah [Gur] ben Menahem Revitsi, who was probably a Karaite from Constantinople, is recorded as the owner of a dozen manuscripts, many of them in libraries in Leiden and Paris -- Christianus Andreas Sibers (inscription, f. 1r) -- Johann Andreas Panz, Professor at Jena, 1701 (inscription, f. 1r), who obtained it from Dr. D. Sibers -- "Joh. Benj. Martinii Archidiac. Ohrdruffens. et Consistor Höenl. Langenb. ibidem Adsessor" (inscription, f. 1r).
Contents: f. 1r blank, with later additions; ff. 1v-151v text; f. 151v colophon; f. 152r acrostic poem by Comtino ("ani Mordekhay ben Eli'ezer"); f. 152v poems by Comtino, arranged in the shape of a fruit-bearing tree.
According to the colophon, the composition of this commentary, entitled Keter Torah or Kelil Yofi, was finished in 1460 in Constantinople. The author was a Byzantine Rabbinic Jew steeped in Sephardic culture who had close contacts with Karaite intellectuals in Constantinople. On a full page at the end of the manuscript the scribe copied a number of poems by the author disposed in the form of a fruit-bearing tree. The commentary has never been published; see, however, J.C. Attias, Le commentaire biblique: Mordekhai Komtino (Paris 1991). At least four other manuscripts of this work are extant (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, héb. 265-266; St. Petersburg, Institute of Oriental Studies, B 49; St. Petersburg, Russian National Library, Yevr. I 51). References: A. Neubauer, Catalogue of the Hebrew Manuscripts in the Jews' College, London (Oxford 1886), no. 1, p. 1; Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts, Jerusalem, F 4670.