Jewish Merchant from Hortus Deliciarum - copy of 12th century illumination
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Mūsā Nāma (The Book of Moses) by Mulana Shāhīn Shirazi Tabriz, Persia 1686
Mūsā Nāma is a poetic compilation of the biblical books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, written in Judaeo-Persian in 1327 by Mulana Shāhīn Shirazi, the most prominent Jewish poet of medieval Persia. Melding Jewish, Muslim, and Persian legends, his text presents the main episodes in the life of Moses. Some of the nineteen miniatures in this copy reflect the influence of Muslim interpretation and visual tradition, such as the veiled depiction of Moses’ face, which recalls representations of Muhammad and Muslim saints.
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The Feast of the Passover( from the Winged altar in St. Peter in Leuven ) - Dirk Bouts ca. 1465
Dutch 1415-1475
Oil on wood,
Sint Pieterskerk, Leuven, Belgium
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10 Lavishly Illustrated Medieval Haggadah Pages That Continue to Reveal Their Secrets
“How does this book on Jewish manuscript illumination differ from all other such books?”
Marc Michael Epstein could not resist posing the question in “Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink: Jewish Illuminated Manuscripts,”a sweeping, lavishly illustrated—and yes, illuminating—survey out this week from Princeton University Press.
Nine scholars join Epstein in this innovative anthology of essays chronicling the history of these manuscripts—the Bible, the Haggadah, the prayer book, marriage documents, and other Jewish texts—from the middle ages to the present.
The goal was to push beyond tradition and examine themanuscripts from a broader perspective, considering artistic style, iconography, narrative, cross-cultural borrowings and references.
One example is the enigmatic (so-called) Birds’ Head Haggadah,probably illuminated in Mainz around 1300—the earliest surviving example ofthe phenomenon of the obfuscation of the human face in such a manuscript.
What are these strange beaked creatures? Tracing the imagery back to the cherubs on the Ark and the curtain of the Holy of Holies, Epstein explains why volume would be more accurately known as the Griffins’ Head Haggadah.
In the spirit of the season, here are 10 Haggadah pages discussed in this fascinating new book.
1. “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt.” The lower margin and central illustration depicts the slaving Israelites, while at top, a hare is served a drink by a dog, perhaps articulating the wish that “one day the Egyptian dogs will serve us.” The Barcelona Haggadah, Spain, ca. 1340. British Library, London.
2. Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh, rendered in a“primitive” style in the Hispano-Moresque Haggadah from Castile, Spain, ca.1300. British Library, London.
3. The Wise Child in a Haggadah illuminated by Nathan ben Abraham Speyer of Breslau. Silesia, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland), 1768. National Library of Israel, Jerusalem.
4. Armed Israelites crossing the Red Sea in the Rylands Haggadah, Catalonia, Spain, mid and late 14th century. John Rylands University Library, Manchester.
5. Israelites crossing the Red Sea in a Haggadah written and illustrated by Joseph Bar David of Leipnick, Moravia. Darmstadt, Germany, 1733. Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York.
6. The Ten Plagues in a Haggadah with the commentary of Abravanel, written and illustrated by Judah Pinḥas, Germany, 1747. Friedrich-Alexander Universistätsbibliothek, Erlangen-Nuremberg.
7. Maror, the bitter herbs (in the Brother Haggadah), Catalonia, Spain, third quarter of 14th century. British Library, London.
8. Disputing and frustrated figures populate a scene where women learn together and with men. First Darmstadt Haggadah. Middle Rhine, second quarter of the 15th century. Hessische Landes und Hochschulbibliothek, Darmstadt.
9. Israelites building store-cities for Pharaoh. Haggadah illustrated by Joseph Bar David of Leipnick, Moravia. Altona, Germany, 1740. British Library, London.
10. The Binding of Isaac in the manuscript traditionally known as the Birds’ Head Haggadah, Upper Rhine, Germany, ca. 1310. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Epstein argues that the volume should be called the Griffins’ Head Haggadah.
jewishhenna
YES yes yes yes. I was so thrilled to see a copy of this book visiting MME last month and I can confirm that it is a MUST-HAVE for anyone interested in Jewish history, illuminated manuscripts, the history of the book, or pretty shiny things.
shelomit-bat-dvorah
Aaaaand chag semeach!
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lion and unicorn detail, from the 16th century ceiling painting of the Hodorov synagogue, Poland
Micrographic sukkah decoration by Israel David Luzzatto (1746 - 1806)
jewishhenna
Gorgeous. The miniature text, by the way, is the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes, in the form of an astrolabe. In the Jewish Museum.
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ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
a german haggadah from ulm, 1460
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Source: bl.uk
Mulier Hebrea, in Thracia, (Hebrew woman from Thrace)
A Woman Ieuwe
A Jewish woman standing whole length to left, with head turned and tilted to right, pointing to left with both hands; wearing a robe covering her head, over brocaded dress, and necklace with pendant; first state, before '12' added to top right corner.
Etching and engraving. Print made by Wenceslaus Hollar. 1644
Source: britishmuseum.org
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Haggadah deer and Haggadah dog
carmen figuratum, Haggadah for Passover (the ‘Ashkenazi Haggadah’), Germany ca. 1460.
BL, Additional 14762, fol. 14r
ellenkushner, I hope you’ve seen this.
I have now!
Wowza. Feelin’ it now.
`
Folios 113b-114a of the North French Hebrew Miscellany manuscript - Aaron as High Priest. Aaron pours oil into the lighted lamps of the Tabernacle menorah, the seven-branched candelabrum. Date: 1278-98
Source: commons.wikimedia.org
A pair of Persian Jewish wedding portraits from 1846. The inscriptions read "Arush ben Shlomo playing the tar" and "Rachel painting her eyebrows".
Source: riowang.blogspot.com
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A scholar sits with his dog, lion and dragon at his feet, c.1390-1396
Source: bl.uk
The Fountain of Grace and the Triumph of the Church over the Synagogue, Jan Van Eyck (school of), oil on panel, c. 1430, Museo Nacional Del Prado
The Museo Del Prado website describes this piece: This painting is made in three planes. At the top, Christ on the throne between the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist with the Lamb at his feet, from which a spring flows. In the middle plane are a heavenly choir with its musicians. On the left side of the bottom plane are kings, noblemen, popes and theologians, while the right side shows various confused, fleeing Jews, one of whom is blindfolded.
The Sacred Forms that flow with the water give this subject a clearly Eucharistic significance, making water a symbol of the Grace that illuminates the Triumphant Church and blinds the Synagogue, that is, those Jews who do not recognize Christ.
This is a close relation of the Ecclesia/Synagoga pairings. The figure on the left wears the clothing described in the Torah and worn before the destruction of the Temple by a kohen gadol, a high priest. The priest wears Synagoga's typical blindfold, representing the metaphorical blindness of the Jews who rejected Christ. He carries Synagoga's broken spear, and two scrolls, one visibly inscribed with Hebrew letters, are unwinding among the figures. Three of the men wear the Renaissance-style Judenhut. They are shown in a variety of positions representing their distress at the destruction of Judaism, or their continued rejection of Christianity. One has his hands over his ears, one appears to be rending his clothing. Two are collapsing in attitudes of abject despair. The man beneath the falling spear raises his hands. To try to catch it? To protect himself from it?
Source: museodelprado.es