Miniature Esther Scroll in Silver Case – Adorned with Grapevine...
Miniature Esther Scroll in Silver Case – Adorned with Grapevine Branches and Grape Clusters – Eastern Europe, Probably Galicia, Early or First Half of the 19th Century
Ink on parchment; silver, cast, turned, pierced, and engraved; rivets; gilt.
Hallmark: partial mark, possibly fineness mark "12".
Scroll inscribed on two sheets of parchment, 12 columns of text, with 33 rows per column; with "tagim" (decorative "crowns") over certain letters, and decorative adornments at the tops of some columns of text.
The scroll is housed in a cylindrical gilt silver case, superimposed with a thick sheet of silver – pierced with vegetal patterns consisting of twisting grapevine branches, grape leaves, and clusters of grapes – attached with rivets. Silver pull bar with undulating edge and small handle.
Inscriptions engraved in margins of silver sheet: "and these days of Purim shall not be revoked from amidst the Jews" (Esther 9:28, in the upper margin; Hebrew), "and their memory shall not cease from their seed, the bridegroom […]" (in the lower margin; the name of the bridegroom has been erased).
Height of parchment sheets: 8.5 cm. Height of case: 10.5 cm; incl. handles: 17.5 cm. Minor blemishes.
For similar items, see: The Jewish Museum London, item no. JM 298; Center for Jewish Art (CJA), item no. 2908 (Museum of Historical Treasures of Ukraine; this particular scroll similarly bears a dedicatory inscription to a bridegroom).
Exhibitions:
1. Presumably, London, Exhibition of Jewish Art and Antiquities, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1906, item no. 1162 (four scrolls on loan from Solomon Schloss).
2. Basel, Jewish Museum of Switzerland, JMS 1025.
Provenance:
1. Collection of Solomon David Schloss (1815-1911).
2. Lewis Raphael Castle (1858-1932), son of the above.
3. Peter Castle (1922-2011), grandson of the above.
4. Heirs of the above.
This item appears in the inventory list of the Schloss Collection, dated 1923 (see appendix, pp. 146-148), and is documented in a 1931 collection photograph (see p. 11).
Bid on this lot
Miniature Esther Scroll in Silver Case – Adorned with Grapevine Branches and Grape Clusters – Eastern Europe, Probably Galicia, Early or First Half of the 19th Century
Ink on parchment; silver, cast, turned, pierced, and engraved; rivets; gilt.
Hallmark: partial mark, possibly fineness mark "12".
Scroll inscribed on two sheets of parchment, 12 columns of text, with 33 rows per column; with "tagim" (decorative "crowns") over certain letters, and decorative adornments at the tops of some columns of text.
The scroll is housed in a cylindrical gilt silver case, superimposed with a thick sheet of silver – pierced with vegetal patterns consisting of twisting grapevine branches, grape leaves, and clusters of grapes – attached with rivets. Silver pull bar with undulating edge and small handle.
Inscriptions engraved in margins of silver sheet: "and these days of Purim shall not be revoked from amidst the Jews" (Esther 9:28, in the upper margin; Hebrew), "and their memory shall not cease from their seed, the bridegroom […]" (in the lower margin; the name of the bridegroom has been erased).
Height of parchment sheets: 8.5 cm. Height of case: 10.5 cm; incl. handles: 17.5 cm. Minor blemishes.
For similar items, see: The Jewish Museum London, item no. JM 298; Center for Jewish Art (CJA), item no. 2908 (Museum of Historical Treasures of Ukraine; this particular scroll similarly bears a dedicatory inscription to a bridegroom).
Exhibitions:
1. Presumably, London, Exhibition of Jewish Art and Antiquities, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1906, item no. 1162 (four scrolls on loan from Solomon Schloss).
2. Basel, Jewish Museum of Switzerland, JMS 1025.
Provenance:
1. Collection of Solomon David Schloss (1815-1911).
2. Lewis Raphael Castle (1858-1932), son of the above.
3. Peter Castle (1922-2011), grandson of the above.
4. Heirs of the above.
This item appears in the inventory list of the Schloss Collection, dated 1923 (see appendix, pp. 146-148), and is documented in a 1931 collection photograph (see p. 11).
