Details
Manuscript. Megillat Esther, engraved by Salom Italia.
Brown ink on parchment. Length: 175 cm; height: c. 12 cm. Written in square script with taggin, in 18 circular text-frames, diameter: 6 cm, on 3 membranes. Ruling in stylus, 22-25 lines to a frame. In worn state, first membrane torn and repaired, some loss of image, scuffed and soiled overall, tears at beginning and end, affecting the image, a few retouches in the text and other minor flaws. [The Netherlands, mid-17th Century].
Underneath the circular text-frames there are 18 panels, illustrating different scenes from the Book of Esther, with a male head on either side of the panel. All frames are surmounted by crouching bears and lions, waiting to attack a lamb. The space is further profusely decorated with attractive repeating floral and architectural designs, with rather Italianate rabbits in the shafts of all depicted columns.
Salom Italia (c.1619-c.1655) is certainly one of the most prolific Jewish artists of the seventeenth Century. Born in Mantua, he went to Amsterdam where, among other things, he produced decorated copper-engraved borders for ketubbot and Esther scrolls. His work served as an example for later artists.
See illustration
Brown ink on parchment. Length: 175 cm; height: c. 12 cm. Written in square script with taggin, in 18 circular text-frames, diameter: 6 cm, on 3 membranes. Ruling in stylus, 22-25 lines to a frame. In worn state, first membrane torn and repaired, some loss of image, scuffed and soiled overall, tears at beginning and end, affecting the image, a few retouches in the text and other minor flaws. [The Netherlands, mid-17th Century].
Underneath the circular text-frames there are 18 panels, illustrating different scenes from the Book of Esther, with a male head on either side of the panel. All frames are surmounted by crouching bears and lions, waiting to attack a lamb. The space is further profusely decorated with attractive repeating floral and architectural designs, with rather Italianate rabbits in the shafts of all depicted columns.
Salom Italia (c.1619-c.1655) is certainly one of the most prolific Jewish artists of the seventeenth Century. Born in Mantua, he went to Amsterdam where, among other things, he produced decorated copper-engraved borders for ketubbot and Esther scrolls. His work served as an example for later artists.
See illustration