This promise of marriage between Wilhelm Goldstein and Paula See in Shanghai was confirmed in Chinese before two witnesses, Max Neumann and Gustav Lehmann, as well as Bernhard Cohn, the lawyer for the Jewish community “Communal Association of Central European Jews. Shanghai”. In contrast to the Braginsky collection’s other marriage contracts, this is not a Jewish religious document, but an official certificate recording the consent to marry of a couple fleeing persecution in the German-speaking countries. In Shanghai, about 18,000 Jews survived the holocaust. (flu)

Online Since: 12/12/2019

This mid-eighteen century Italian Esther scroll was most likely printed and hand-colored in Venice. It is kept in a cylindrical case of delicate filigree, ornamented with floral motifs, that is typical of the later and more refined work of Ioannite silversmiths. (red)

Online Since: 12/20/2016

The Esther story in this megillah (pl. megillot) isn't presented as an historic drama, but rather as a funny satire. The character of Alsatian Jewish life is captured in the ornamentation of the scroll: the whimsical imagery includes peasant figures in colorful local costume and reflections of folk humor. Lively figures, several shown strolling with walking sticks in hand and others gesturing, are interspersed with human busts, owls, and a gargoyle, while the Hebrew text is arranged within octagonal frames approximately 6 cm high. The few known Alsatian megillot share several distinctive characteristics, such as a bright palette of yellow, red, and green; stocky robust figures; and large vibrant flowers. In this Braginsky Collection Esther scroll, the women wear red or blue garments with yellow corselets laced in front, whereas the men are depicted wearing, amongst others, traditional white ruffs, red or blue jackets with culottes, and a variety of hats. (red)

Online Since: 10/13/2016

Jewish ceremonial objects crafted of gold, such as this Esther scroll case, are exceptionally rare since synagogue and personal Judaica objects were usually made of silver or other less precious material. The cylindrical case of this scroll is ornamented with applied filigree. Emerging from a vase at the center is a large naturalistic flowering wine with scrolling stems and blossoms that extend across the case’s decorated surface. Large blossoms support or frame the objects associated with the Holy Temple of Jerusalem. Although these motifs are frequently found on a variety of Italian Jewish ritual metalwork, they do not relate specifically to the Esther story. In addition, the Ten Tablets of the Law are placed on the largest central floral motif, a wreath composed of small flower forms that may suggest sunflowers. There are two similar Esther scroll cases of this type undoubtedly created by the same maker. They have been localized to seventeenth-century Rome or Venice. This undecorated scroll is probably from the 18th century. (red)

Online Since: 03/22/2017

This megillah is embellished with hand-painted, repeated architectural designs. The text is set between alternating straight and spiral marble columns. The Jews of Italy associated twisted columns with those of the Temple of Solomon, which they believed were brought to Rome by Titus and eventually placed in the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican. In terms of style, this scroll resembles the illuminated ketubot produced in Ferrara and Mantua. Accompanying this scroll is a separate sheet of parchment that, in addition to the benedictions, contains a liturgical hymn, korei megillah, recited by the Jews of Italy. Rabbis disagreed as to whether a scroll may include any extraneous text that is not part of the book of Esther. However, in some communities this led to the practice of creating an unattached sheet featuring the three benedictions traditionally recited prior to the reading of the megillah. (red)

Online Since: 03/22/2017

The border design of this Esther scroll is dominated by a baroque arcade featuring four distinctly patterned columns. The arches are surmounted by a balustrade that supports flowering urns, blank medallions, floral scrollwork, and a variety of birds including a crowned double-headed eagle and a peacock. Scenes from the Esther narrative are positioned beneath each of the nineteen columns of text. The engraved border of this scroll was designed by the Italian scholar, artist, and publisher Francesco Griselini (1717-1787), whose engraved border designs were popular in Italy in the eighteenth century. In these illustrations, Griselini has devoted particular attention to architectural settings and spatial perspective. The artist’s printed signature is found in the lower left corner of each membrane. The last scene, placed under the final arch, is rarely found on illustrated Ester scrolls. It depicts the Messiah riding on a donkey heralding the return of the exiled Jewish people back to Jerusalem. The text of this scroll was penned by the scribe-artist Aryeh Leib ben Daniel. In his inscription, which follows the concluding benedictions, he informs the reader that he wrote this scroll in Venice in the winter of 1746. (red)

Online Since: 03/22/2017

This profusely illustrated Dutch scroll is distinctive for its thirty-eight illustrations drawn in sepia ink. The decoration of the scroll begins with a triumphal arch reminiscent of Roman Triumphal arches constructed for royal festivities throughout Europe from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century. The scroll also contains some unusual representations. One is of Mordecai standing in a room with a wall filled with books. He is portrayed as a scholar, perhaps reflecting a rabbinic tradition that informs us of his remarkable knowledge of seventy languages, which helped him uncover the plot against Ahasuerus. Another striking illustration is the depiction of two merrymaking dwarves dancing and playing stringed instruments in celebration of the Jews’ delivery from destruction. (red)

Online Since: 03/22/2017

This eighteenth-century megillah was created in Lower Saxony and exemplifies a type of folk art decoration and color palette found in other megillot from this region. The most distinctive image in this scroll is the one depicting the hanging of Haman. Bound in chains, he is suspended from the gallows. A venomous snake, a symbol of evil, encircles the upright support of the gibbet. Below, a double-tailed lion, an allegoric embodiment of the Jewish people, is depicted holding a crowned shield and gazing up at the execution. This Braginsky Collection megillah is one of three similar German scrolls containing distinctive images of Haman hanging. Inscriptions on the opening and closing panels of this scroll indicate that this scroll was owned by Berel the son of Abraham Neumark of Hamburg. (red)

Online Since: 03/22/2017

The special feature of this Esther scroll (on 4 sheets with 16 columns of text) are the detailed illustrations of the Book of Esther with the inclusion of motifs from the Midrash literature. These testify to a good knowledge of the Bible and the rabbinical commentaries. The depiction of Jews in festive dress with barrette and white ruffled collar (“Judenkragen”) points to a Western European milieu. In fact, the roll was created in Amsterdam. The scribe of this early and prototypical megillah with a printed decorative frame, Jacob from Berlin, wrote his name in the opening panel and dated the manuscript to the 18th century. (flu)

Online Since: 10/08/2020

This scroll (on five sheets with 13 columns of text) opens with an impressive sun disk surrounded by the signs of the zodiac. The month of Adar is particularly emphasized, since it was in this month under the sign of Pisces that the extermination of the Jews took place. Each column begins, if possible, with the word ha-melech (the king), which designates the king Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther, but is also an allusion to the never explicitly mentioned and yet omnipresent God. The silver case from around 1800 is crowned by a bouquet of flowers and leaves, which can be found in a similar way on Torah finials (rimmonim) and other Judaica metalwork of the Ottoman Empire. (flu)

Online Since: 10/08/2020

This Esther scroll was created in Amsterdam around 1641 (on 7 sheets and 49 columns of text); it contains a printed decorative frame engraved by Shalom Italia (see his signature at the beginning of the scroll “Salom Italia sculp[sit]” (Shalom Italia engraved it). His frame designs influenced illustrated megillot throughout Europe. The printing plate, which is repeated several times over the entire length of the scroll, comprises four archways. On each pierced semicircular arch, above the architraves there are two women holding palm fronds. Landscape miniatures appear in the supraports and on the bases of the full-length figures representing Ahasuerus, Esther, Mordecai, and Haman. The scenes are based on contemporary landscape motifs, thus linking the Jewish text with the general visual culture of its time. (flu)

Online Since: 10/08/2020

The printed frame design for this Esther scroll (on four sheets with 15 columns of text) was created by the engraver Paul-Jean Franck, a non-Jewish artist in Prague; it is thus one of the rare examples of this type that does not originate from the two printing centers of Venice or Amsterdam. A total of seven episodes from the Book of Esther are presented in vertical order at the beginning and end of the scroll. At the beginning: Ahasuerus on the throne, while Mordecai and Haman are led past; Mordecai hands Hatach the decree of destruction; the king in the tent. At the end: the celebration of Purim; the accusation of Haman by Esther; Mordecai and the king; Mordecai as he records the establishment of the Purim festival in a letter to the Jews. Above the spiral columns’ capitals, further scenes are represented. (flu)

Online Since: 10/08/2020

Created at the beginning of the 20th century, this Esther scroll (on six sheets with 35 columns of text) could be seen as an attempt to create a national Jewish style by incorporating orientalist and Art Nouveau elements. The origin could therefore be Jerusalem, although other centers in the Ottoman Empire could also be considered. The case is artfully carved from ivory, the megillah was painted in vivid colors and contains floral motifs, as often found in oriental manuscripts. (flu)

Online Since: 10/08/2020

The decorative program of this Esther scroll (on 4 sheets with 16 columns of text) was taken from the printed frame design of the Braginsky Megillah S25. The benedictions at the beginning of the scroll are surrounded by figures and episodes of the Esther story: at the top Ahasuerus and Esther on the throne flanked by courtiers; below on the right the conspirators and on the left Haman on the gallows; at the bottom on the right Mordecai in the gate of the palace and on the left Esther and Mordecai writing letters with the orders for the Purim feast. The hexagonal case of chased silver was made in 1806 and belonged to Rabbi Ephraim Fischel of Rozdol in Eastern Galicia. (flu)

Online Since: 10/08/2020

This scroll contains one of the most finely executed series of illustrations to be found in decorated megillot (sing. megillah). The highly accomplished artist Wolf Leib Katz Poppers has modeled detailed figures, scenes, and animals with delicate parallel and cross-hatched pen strokes, creating an effect that is strikingly similar to the copperplate engravings of contemporary books. Positioned between a foliate border with animals at the top and a similar one with birds at the bottom, text columns are interspersed with eight elegant full-length characters from the Esther story. Below each of these figures is a small vignette that chronicles the Purim story. It is unusual that the skillfully drawn figures that embellish this scroll are dressed in Ottoman-court clothing. The choice of this type of dress is intriguing, and perhaps the most cogent reason for this combination is that the scroll was produced for a member of a small, affluent community of Turkish Jews who, after 1718, were permitted to live and trade freely in Vienna, while still remaining subjects of the Sultan of Turkey. (red)

Online Since: 10/13/2016

This Esther scroll, which combines Indian and Western traditions in a unique way, contains twenty elaborately illustrated panels flanking the text columns. The reader is shown surrounded by men wearing fezes and children holding drums used as noisemakers to drawn out the name of Haman. Additionally, a group of five women is portrayed in a separate space above labeled ezrat nashim (woman’s section). The figures in the scroll are depicted in a mixture of contemporary, Western and non-Western clothing, and often are seated in interiors that portray a similar blend of furnishings. Some of the women, including Esther at times, are shown with a Hindu bindi sign on their foreheads. This scroll comes from the collection of the eminent Sassoon family of Baghdadi Jewish descent. It was most likely created for their personal use. The merging of Jewish scribal traditions and Indian artistic design reflects the Sassoon family’s deep involvement in the cultural life of India. (red)

Online Since: 12/20/2016

This hand-written megillah Esther from Venice (type: “Gaster I”, on three sheets with text in 19 columns, all but the last one arranged in pairs), is decorated with a printed and hand-colored decorative border; it can be dated circa 1675 based on almost identical Esther rolls that are dated. This decorative technique was first used in Rome in the late 16th century and later, especially in the 18th century, was widely used in Venice and Amsterdam. Polylobed cartouches below and above the text depict scenes from the Book of Esther. (flu)

Online Since: 10/08/2020

In contrast to most Esther scrolls, the first two decorative fields of this megillah emphasize the central importance of Mordecai. First there is written, in burgundy letters: “The Scroll of Esther the Queen and Mordecai the Jew” and then in orange letters “In the fortress Shushan lived a Jew by the name of Mordecai, son of Jair son of Shimei son of Kish” (Esther 2:5). This genealogy is traced back to Abraham on the borders along the top and bottom of the entire scroll. This is followed by the lineage of the opponent Haman, which was taken from the Targum Riscon, the Aramaic translation of the original Hebrew text. (flu)

Online Since: 10/08/2020

Cut-out decors are typical for Esther scrolls from Ancona and Lugo. These can also be found on ketubbot (see K96 and K105) and other decorative sheets. The upper ribbon of cutout designs on this megillah (on three leaves with 12 columns of text) has peacocks, butterflies and deer interwoven with flower, tendril and latticework ornaments, while the lower one shows the signs of the zodiac. The turned wooden roller is 54.8 cm high. (flu)

Online Since: 10/08/2020

By its style, the case of this megillah (h: 47cm) can be attributed to religious Jewish art of Eastern Europe. The silver is punched, chased, cast and partially gilded. The double-headed eagle is the heraldic animal of the Habsburgs and of the Russian Tsar. On the shield is a quote from Esther 8:16: “But unto the Jews there came a light and joy and gladness and glory”, and the flags flanking the shield are inscribed: “And the royal crown shall be set upon his head” (Esther 6:8). Numerous of flower, fruit and leaf ornaments, interspersed with representations of animals, cover the case. The scroll can be pulled out by a clasp in the shape of a small lion. (flu)

Online Since: 12/10/2020